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Effect of pH on the electrodeposition nucleation and growth mechanism of cuprous oxide

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Abstract

In this paper, we report the kinetics, nucleation, and growth mechanism of copper oxide electrodeposited on ITO from copper sulfate and lactic acid solutions at different pH values, using cyclic voltammetry (CV), chronoamperometry (CA), and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). According to the cyclic voltammetry, the cathodic peak potential increases with increasing scan rate, indicating that the deposition of Cu2O is an irreversible process influenced by diffusion control. To further investigate the type of Cu2O nucleation, it was found that Cu2O followed diffusion-controlled three-dimensional transient nucleation by comparing the timing current curves with the Scharifker-Hills three-dimensional nucleation model. Furthermore, the three-dimensional transient nucleation was still followed regardless of the deposition potential and pH variation; this result was also confirmed from field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM). According to the EIS profile, the charge transfer resistance of Cu2O decreased with the increase in deposition potential; the charge transfer resistance was the smallest at pH = 9. In the timing current curve D (diffusion coefficient) showed a decreasing trend with increasing pH values. The nucleation pattern and growth process of nuclei at the early stage of electrodeposition are the basis for the formation of thin films, which is a guideline for obtaining films with better performance.

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Funding

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (no. 52174354).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Metallurgical and Ecological Engineering, University of Science and Technology, Beijing, Beijing, 100083, China

    Changli Min, Zhuonan Shi, Junjie Xie & Ruixin Ma

  2. Tianjin Research Institute of Water Transport Engineering, Ministry of Transport, Tianjin, 30000, China

    Shina Li

  3. Beijing Key Laboratory of Special Melting and Preparation of High-end Metal Materials, 100083, Beijing, China

    Ruixin Ma

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  1. Changli Min
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Correspondence to Shina Li or Ruixin Ma.

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Min, C., Li, S., Shi, Z. et al. Effect of pH on the electrodeposition nucleation and growth mechanism of cuprous oxide. J Solid State Electrochem 27, 1085–1093 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10008-023-05408-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10008-023-05408-x

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