Electrodeposition of palladium in H2O and D2O

Abstract

In this Master’s thesis the electrodeposition of palladium on pencil graphite in aqueous solutions of either H2O or D2O at different acidities was examined experimentally utilizing chronoamperometry and cyclic voltammetry. Electrochemical cells and their theory was examined along with how electrochemical reactions occur on the electrode surfaces. Based on the experiments the nucleation process was observed to follow progressive nucleation mechanism as described by Scharifker- Hills theory. Current profiles from chronoamperometric measurements followed the theoretical description by Heerman and Tarallo and values for nucleation constant per site, number density of active sites and diffusion coefficients were obtained for each sample solution. Overall the effects of using D2O instead of H2O had only small effects on these values and should be examined in further experiments more thoroughly.