The present study highlights the changes in morphology in a Sn matrix during pulsed electrodeposition of a Sn−Cu near-eutectic alloy with varying current density in an acidic electrolyte. 3D image construction has been employed using SHAPE V7.3; Shape Software: Kingsport, Tennessee, USA to replicate the shape of grown crystals and analyze the results. It is observed that the growth morphology changes with the introduction of high index planes at higher current densities. Furthermore, a growth pattern occurs with high index planes formed from a stepped structure in low index planes. There has been a change in growth direction from ⟨001⟩ to ⟨110⟩ at higher current densities. At very high current densities, sympathetic or secondary nucleation is observed.

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This article reports ZnFe2O4 (ZFO) based negative electrodes for a lithium-ion battery, which is synthesized using a simple autocombustion technique and coated onto copper current collectors using the electrophoretic deposition technique. The use of electrophoretic deposition to manufacture the electrodes results in the significant improvement of electrochemical properties of ZFO, which is achieved without the use of any complex processing steps or costly additives like graphene, CNT, etc. The electrophoretically fabricated electrodes possess a porous microstructure with uniform carbon black distribution. Such a microstructure and carbon black distribution successfully tackles the issues related to the low electronic conductivity and volumetric fluctuation based delamination. These electrodes deliver a stable reversible specific capacity of 560 mAh g–1 at a specific current rate of 0.5 A g–1, which is retained for 100 cycles. The electrodes also exhibit a specific capacity of 330 mAh g–1 at a high specific current rate of 3.5 A g–1. Electrophoretic deposition, thus, represents a simple and cost-effective route to fabricate negative electrode coatings with superior electrochemical properties.

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