Issue 1, 2014

Nucleation and growth of mercury on Pt nanoelectrodes at different overpotentials

Abstract

Three-dimensional nucleation and growth on active surface sites are fundamentally important initial stages of electrodeposition of metals. Electrodeposition of Hg is a widely employed model for studies of such processes because the near-ideal hemispherical growth of its liquid nuclei can be used to check the existing theory. In this article we discuss nucleation/growth of Hg at 50–100 nm radius Pt electrodes. Recently, atomic force microscopy (AFM) was used to demonstrate that a nanoelectrode of this size has a single active site for Ag nucleation, at which the growth of a single nucleus was monitored (Chem. Sci., 2012, 3, 3307). Here we report similar observations for Hg nucleation/growth at relatively low overpotentials (e.g., 25 to 75 mV). However, at higher overpotentials (e.g., ≥100 mV), the kinetics of this process changed, and very fast multiple nucleation of Hg was observed. Possible origins of this phenomenon are discussed.

Graphical abstract: Nucleation and growth of mercury on Pt nanoelectrodes at different overpotentials

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Edge Article
Submitted
04 Sep 2013
Accepted
21 Oct 2013
First published
22 Oct 2013

Chem. Sci., 2014,5, 189-194

Nucleation and growth of mercury on Pt nanoelectrodes at different overpotentials

J. Velmurugan, J. Noël and M. V. Mirkin, Chem. Sci., 2014, 5, 189 DOI: 10.1039/C3SC52488D

To request permission to reproduce material from this article, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements