Dynamics of codeposition of metals inside porous electrode operating in direct-flow mode

Abstract

Using an extended dynamic model of liquid flow-through porous electrode (PE), the effect of kinetics of deposition of individual components and conditions of potentiostatic electrolysis on the dynamics and final parameters (the cathodic deposit weight, the ratio between the amounts of components, and the spatial distribution of components) of codeposition of two metals M₁ and M₂ is studied. An equipotential PE operating in the direct-flow mode in the absence of anodic dissolution of electronegative component M₂ is considered. The effects of concentration, exchange currents, a difference between the equilibrium potentials M₁ and M₂, a prescribed voltage on PE, and solution flow velocity and direction are analyzed. It is shown that, for this version of codeposition of metals, the rates of M₁ and M₂ deposition averaged over the PE width are constant in time. However, this does not mean that their local deposition rates are constant. The general tendency is that the metal deposition rate on the rear part of PE decreases with the time, whereas the deposition rate on the frontal zone of PE, which is closer to the anode, increases. As a result, the final profiles for M₁ and M₂, which are calculated for equal deposition times taking into account and ignoring the redistribution of current during the deposition, differ essentially.