Kinetic and topographic investigation of copper deposition/stripping in anacid copper environment

The existence of upd copper on roughened polycrystalline Pt contacted to an acid copper environment has been demonstrated by means of the in situ quar tz crystal microbalance (QCMB) technique. The information was taken from cu rrent and mass transients monitored simultaneously with millisecond resolut ion. The electrosorption valency was observed to be close to unity in this environment. The deposition/ stripping kinetics evaluated from mass transie nts clearly demonstrate that the formation of upd copper occurs prior to bu lk formation. On the other hand, stripping of the bulk phase occurs before the dismantling of the upd film. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science S.A. All rights reserved.