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Room‐Temperature Electrochemical Assembly of Copper/Cuprous Oxide Nanocomposites
Author(s) -
Huang LingYuang,
Bohannan Eric W.,
Hung ChenJen,
Switzer Jay A.
Publication year - 1997
Publication title -
israel journal of chemistry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.908
H-Index - 54
eISSN - 1869-5868
pISSN - 0021-2148
DOI - 10.1002/ijch.199700034
Subject(s) - copper , chemistry , oxide , nanocomposite , electrochemistry , metal , electrode , inorganic chemistry , copper oxide , analytical chemistry (journal) , chemical engineering , chromatography , organic chemistry , engineering
Nanocomposite films of copper metal and cuprous oxide, Cu 2 O, are electrodeposited at room temperature from alkaline solutions of copper(II) lactate. The electrode potential oscillates spontaneously if the films are deposited galvanostatically. The oscillation period is a function of pH, varying from 69 seconds at pH 8.7 to 11 seconds at pH 9.7. No oscillations are observed if the pH is below 8.5 or above 10. The phase composition of films deposited at 0.5 mA/cm 2 is a function of pH. The composition varies from nearly pure copper (93 mole%) at pH 8, to 42 mole% copper at pH 9.5, to pure cuprous oxide when the pH exceeds 10. The observation of quasi‐periodic potential oscillations suggests that the nanocomposites are layered. The calculated faradaic thickness of cuprous oxide is 5–8 nm, and the thickness of the copper layer is 1–11 nm. The thickness of each of the layers increases as the pH is lowered.