Experimental Study of Nonequilibrium Electrodeposition of Nanostructures on Copper and Nickel for Photochemical Fuel Cell Application

Abstract

To increase the performance of photochemical fuel cells, nonequilibrium electrodeposition has been performed on Cu and Ni to make photosensitive anodes. Processing parameters including electrolyte concentration, and electrode potential were studied using cyclic voltammetry. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray Spectroscopy (EDS) were performed to understand the formation of the nanostructures during the nonequilibrium deposition of copper fractals. An increase in the deposition rate was observed with the increase in electrolyte concentration (from 0.05 M to 1.0 M). Similar trend was found when the cathode potential was decreased from −0.5 V to −4.5 V. The effect of substrate material was also examined. Porous fractal structures on copper were achieved, while the deposited material showed high density of surface cracks on nickel. The fractal structures deposited on copper electrode with the increased surface area were converted into copper oxide by oxidation in air. Such oxide samples were made into anodes for photochemical fuel cell application. We demonstrated that an increase in the magnitude of open circuit output voltage is associated with the increase in the fractal surface area under the ultraviolet irradiation test conditions. However, the electrodeposited fractals on nickel showed very limited increase in the magnitude of open circuit voltage.

Pattern transition from dense branching morphology to fractal for copper and β′ brass electrodeposition in thin gap geometry

“…1 Deposits of various morphologies are reported using different metal ion concentrations and applied electric potential particularly in thin gap geometry. [2][3][4][5] In the limit of low concentration and low potential, growth of ramified structures has been observed to be very similar to those given by Diffusion Limited Aggregation 6 (DLA) model developed by Witten and Sanders. DLA is an idealization of the process by which matter irreversibly combines to form dust soot dendrites and other random objects in the case where the rate limiting step is the diffusion of matter to the aggregate.…”

Investigations on tri manganese tetra oxide nano particles prepared by thermal decomposition

“…The current age is characterized by increased technological advances and rapid nanotechnology development [1]. Technologies with such a system of materials having at least one of its dimensions within 100 nm are referred to as nanoscience.…”