Fractal Structures of Zinc Metal Leaves Grown by Electrodeposition

Comparison between electrodeposited aggregates in two dimensions and the fractal pattern calculated by the Witten-Sander model

“…The average value of D obtained for the different aggregates is found to be 1.6 0.2. his reproducibility in copper deposition is poorer than the 5 % found in the case of the electrodeposition of Zinc 6 and is in agreenent with previous results 8 . It might result fram the fact that a mixture of two substance seems to be deposited in the case of copper, most likely copper and copper oxide.…”

“…It has also been applied to describe the electrodeposition process 5 . Indeed, Matsushita et al 6 have demonstrated that electrodeposition of zinc metal can grow aggregates, the fractal dimension of which corresponds to the value expected fran the Witten Sander model.…”

“…Following the method used by these authors to analyze their pattern 6 , w have computed the variation of the integrated dark zone in the pattern as a function of the distance R fra the electrode center. Assuming that the integrated intensity of the dark zone at distance R is proportional to the mass of the copper at that distance, a best fit procedure has been used to determine the fractal dimension of the aggregate:…”

Hyper-dendritic nanoporous zinc foam anodes

“…The TEM image taken of hyper-dendritic nanoporous zinc foam is seen in Figure 2a. A schematic representation of our interpretation of zinc dendrite formation, based on the diffusion-limited aggregation model [19][20][21] is seen in Figure 2b. Our hypothesis is that branch growth on secondary dendrites at the edge of the primary dendritic spines led to the formation of nanoporous zinc.…”

Experimental evidence for deterministic chaos in electrochemical deposition

“…Among the various experimental illustrations of fractal pattern formation, electrochemical deposition is currently considered as the paradigm for theoretical studies of interfacial growth processes [29]. In fact, by varying the concentration of metal ions, the conductivity of the electrolyte and the applied constant current (or voltage), one can explore different morphologies like dense radial [43], dendritic [44,45] and DLA-like fractal [23,24,[45][46][47][48] patterns. The competition between the complex reaction kinetics at the interface and the migration process induced by the electric field is likely to be at the origin of these drastic changes in the morphology of the deposits.…”