Effect of diffusion through solution and along surface on electrocrystallization processes. Part 1.—Potentiostatic case

Abstract

The mathematical formalism for treating the interaction of the simultaneous diffusion of ions in solution and of adatoms along the surface during electrocrystallization is presented. The lattice is assumed to be built up at kink sites in step lines on the surface. Previous calculations have been based either on a model of surface diffusion or of bulk diffusion only; in the present model, adatoms are defined on the surface and the electrochemical reaction acts as the continuous source linking the concentration changes in the bulk and the surface regions.

The present paper is restricted to establishing the method of analysis for the potentiostatic case. Results obtained previously are deduced as special cases; conditions are established in which a quasi-stationary state may be reached in which the surface diffusion is in “equilibrium” before the effects of bulk diffusion become dominant.