Improvement of a cementation process by ultrasound: case of the cadmium–zinc couple at a RDE

This paper describes the impact of low frequency (20 kHz) ultrasound (US) on Cd(II)/Zn cementation implemented on a RDE geometry. With and without US the reaction is mass-transfer controlled with two-step first-order kinetics mainly connected to deposit evolution. US improves the kinetics but to a lower extent than expected from electrochemical Cd(II) reduction. The favourable turbulence enhancement due to the deposit without US is not present when applying US because the deposit is continually removed from the surface. The influence of parameters such as temperature, initial concentration of reactants and US power is also analysed.