Electrodeposition of iron-group metals and binary alloys from sulfate baths II. Modeling

A mechanism of iron-group elemental metal and binary alloy electrodeposition is proposed. The one-dimensional diffusion model of Grande and Talbot is used to determine near-surface concentrations of the ionic species deemed important for electrodeposition: the current model expands upon the surface kinetics by including the effects of competitive adsorption, site blockage by hydrogen atoms, and a variance in the number of adsorption sites. Fitting of the model kinetic parameters to the elemental electrodeposition data was found to simulate the partial current densities extremely well. The proposed model was found to be extensible to the iron-group binary alloys. Use of the elemental electrodeposition parameters in alloy codeposition was found to effectively characterize the experimental results, e.g., partial current densities, weight fractions, and the effect of electrode rotational rate. (C) 2000 The Electrochemical Society. S0013-4651 (97)04-075-5. All rights reserved.