Electrodeposition in highly viscous media: experiments and simulations

S. GUTMAN GRINBANK; G. DIAZ CONSTANZO; A. SOBA; G. A. GONZALEZ; G. MARSHALL

JOURNAL OF ELECTROSTATICS

IEEE

Lugar: Boston; Año: 2009 p. 672 - 677

0304-3886

Electrolyte viscosity plays an important role in iontransport. Here we study the effects of high viscosity variations inthin-layer electrochemical deposition (ECD) under galvanostaticconditions through experimental measurements and theoreticalmodelling. The viscosity was varied through glycerol and polymeradditions and the tracking of convective fronts was performedthrough the use of optical and particle image velocimetrytechniques with micron sized particles. The theoretical model,written in terms of dimensionless quantities, describes diffusive,migratory and convective ion transport in a fluid under galvanostaticconditions. Experiments reveal that as viscosity increases,convection decreases, while concentration gradients increase.These effects are more pronounced when the current increases.Theory and simulations predict that as viscosity increases, thePoisson and Reynolds numbers decrease whereas the Peclet andelectric Grashof numbers increase. Therefore, electroconvectionbecomes more relevant.