Influence of the coordination sphere on the mechanism of cobalt nucleation onto glassy carbon

Manuel Palomar-Pardavé, Ignacio González, Ana B. Soto, Elsa M. Arce

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124 Scopus citations

Abstract

Electrolytic phase formation of cobalt onto a glassy carbon electrode (GCE) was investigated using linear sweep voltammetry and the potential step technique in aqueous 10-2 M CoCl2 + 1 M NH4Cl at pH 4.6 and 9.5. Thermodynamic, voltammetric and spectrophotometric analysis of the solutions showed that the predominant chemical species of Co(II) in solution were the Co(H2O)2+6 ion at pH 4.6 and the Co(NH3)2+5 complex at pH 9.5. Voltammetric analysis showed that the experimental equilibrium potential of the Co(NH3)2+5/Co(0) system was more negative than the Co(H2O)2+6/Co(0) couple. However the electrocrystallization overpotential for cobalt deposition on GCE from the aquo complex was higher than for the amine complex. Analysis of the current-time transients obtained at each pH, indicated that distinct mechanisms of nucleation are involved during the early stages of cobalt deposition. In the case of Co(H2O)2+6 reduction, the transients were described theoretically in terms of 3D nucleation with diffusion controlled growth. For cobalt deposition from the Co(NH3)2+5 species, the transients were explained by a combination of three different kinds of parallel nucleation processes, 2D progressive nucleation, 2D instantaneous nucleation and 3D progressive nucleation, each of which was limited by lattice incorporation of cobalt ad-atoms.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)125-136
Number of pages12
JournalJournal of Electroanalytical Chemistry
Volume443
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - 10 Feb 1998
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • 2D electrocrystallization
  • 3D electrocrystallization
  • Amine cobalt complex
  • Cobalt deposition
  • Cobalt electrocrystallization

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