Abstract
ELECTRODEPOSITION of metals such as copper and zinc from solutions of their salts may give rise to ramified metal deposits which show a range of growth morphologies1–9. Our understanding of the factors that determine growth morphology is still very limited, in part because different morphologies may be observed even under similar growth conditions4,5. It is thought9 that uncontrolled convective processes at the tips of the deposit branches may play a role in these discrepancies. Here we show that convective effects, which we can visualize directly, in the electrodeposition of iron from FeSO4 solution, can generate a mesh-like pattern, a morphology that has not been reported previously. Convection can be diminished by altering the pH, whereupon we see a transition to a dense branching morphology. Our results show that convective effects do indeed play an important part in determining pattern selection during electrodeposition.
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Wang, M., van Enckevort, W., Ming, Nb. et al. Formation of a mesh-like electrodeposit induced by electroconvection. Nature 367, 438–441 (1994). https://doi.org/10.1038/367438a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/367438a0
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