A Kinetic and AFM Study of the Electrodeposition of Palladium Nanoclusters onto Highly Oriented Pyrolytic Graphite (HOPG)

• Published in: Journal of cluster science Vol. 26; no. 2; pp. 337 - 346
• Main Authors: Mendoza-Huizar, L. H., Garrido-Márquez, D., Rios-Reyes, C. H., Rivera, M., García-Sánchez, E., Galán-Vidal, C.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Boston Springer US 01.03.2015; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Ammonium chloride; Aqueous solutions; Carbon; Catalysis; Chemistry; Chemistry and Materials Science; Clusters; Diffusion coefficient; Electrodeposition; Electrodes; Graphite; Inorganic Chemistry; Mathematical analysis; Nanochemistry; Nanoclusters; Nanoparticles; Nucleation; Original Paper; Palladium; Physical Chemistry; Pyrolytic graphite; Cluster; Electrodeposition; Palladium; Kinetic
• ISSN: 1040-7278; 1572-8862
• DOI: 10.1007/s10876-014-0837-7

In the present work we have carried out a kinetic and morphological study of the palladium electrodeposition onto highly oriented pyrolitic graphite electrode from an aqueous solution [0.001 M PdCl 2  + 1 M NH 4 Cl (pH 7)]. From the potentiostatic study were calculated the diffusion coefficient (3.2 × 10 −6  cm 2  s −1 ), the number of active nucleation sites ( N 0 ), the nucleation rate ( A ) and the rate constant of the proton reduction process ( k PR ). A , N 0 and k PR values were potential dependent and they increased with an augment in the applied overpotential. At higher overpotential, it is possible to induce the formation of small Pd clusters with 5 nm in height and an average size of 20–30 nm in diameter.