Metal deposition reduction

The catalyst is also employed in the form of the finely-divided metal deposited upon activated carbon (usually containing 5 or 10 per cent. Pd) two methods of preparation are described, in one reduction is effected with alkaline formaldehyde solution and in the other with hydrogen ... 

Sulphates, which form part of the ash from the combustion of many fuels, are not harmful to high-alloy steels, but can become so if reduction to sulphide occurs. This leads to the formation of low melting point oxide-sulphide mixtures and to sulphide penetration of the metal. Such reduction is particularly easy if the sulphate can form a mixture of low melting point with some other substance. Reduction can be brought about by bad combustion, as demonstrated by Sykes and Shirley , and it is obviously important to avoid contact with inefficiently burnt fuels when sulphate deposits may be present. Reduction can also be brought about in atmospheres other than reducing ones and the presence of chlorides or vanadium pentoxide has been shown to be sufficient to initiate the reaction. It has also been shown that it can be initiated by prior cathodic polarisation in fused sodium sulphate. The effect of even small amounts of chloride on oxidation in the presence of sulphate is illustrated in Fig. 7.33 . 

Electroless Plating formation of a metallic coating by chemical reduction catalysed by the metal deposited. 

The hydrogen reduction of the metal halides, described in Sec. 1.2, is generally the favored reaction for metal deposition but is not suitable for the platinum-group metals since the volatilization and decomposition temperatures of their halides are too close to provide efficient vapor transport. 1 1 For that reason, the decomposition of the carbonyl halide is preferred. The exception is palladium which is much more readily deposited by hydrogen reduction than by the carbonyl-halide decomposition. 

Recently, it is reported that Xi02 particles with metal deposition on the surface is more active than pure Ti02 for photocatalytic reactions in aqueous solution because the deposited metal provides reduction sites which in turn increase the efficiency of the transport of photogenerated electrons (e ) in the conduction band to the external sjistem, and decrease the recombination with positive hole (h ) in the balance band of Xi02, i.e., less defects acting as the recombination center[l,2,3]. Xhe catalytic converter contains precious metals, mainly platinum less than 1 wt%, partially, Pd, Re, Rh, etc. on cordierite supporter. Xhus, in this study, solutions leached out from wasted catalytic converter of automobile were used for precious metallization source of the catalyst. Xhe XiOa were prepared with two different methods i.e., hydrothermal method and a sol-gel method. Xhe prepared titanium oxide and commercial P-25 catalyst (Deagussa) were metallized with leached solution from wasted catalytic converter or pure H2PtCl6 solution for modification of photocatalysts. Xhey were characterized by UV-DRS, BEX surface area analyzer, and XRD[4]. 

Samples of high area powders and of supported metals may be applied to the CaF2 support plate by a spraying technique, previously described In detall(ll). In Figure 1, we show a half plate design In which a supported metal deposit, produced by H2 reduction of metal Ions held on the support, occupies one half of the plate while the pure support occupies the other half. 

While the above XPS results give the impression, that the electrochemical interface and the metal vacuum interface behave similarly, fundamental differences become evident when work function changes during metal deposition are considered. During metal deposition at the metal vacuum interface the work function of the sample surface usually shifts from that of the bare substrate to that of the bulk deposit. In the case of Cu deposition onto Pt(l 11) a work function reduction from 5.5 eV to 4.3 eV is observed during deposition of one monolayer of copper [96], Although a reduction of work function with UPD metal coverage is also observed at the electrochemical interface, the absolute values are totally different. For Ag deposition on Pt (see Fig. 31)... 

More recently, Ikeda et a/.108 have examined C02 reduction in aqueous and nonaqueous solvents using metal-deposited p-GaP and p-InP electrodes under illumination. Metal coatings on these semiconductor electrodes gave much improved faradaic efficiencies for C02 reduction. In an aqueous solution, the products obtained were formic acid and CO with hydrogen evolution at Pb-, Zn-, and In-coated electrodes, while in a nonaqueous PC solution, CO was obtained with faradaic efficiencies of ca. 90% at In-, Zn-, and Au-coated p-GaP and p-InP, and a Pb coating on a p-GaP electrode gave oxalate as the main product with a faradaic efficiency of ca. 50% at -1.2 V versus Ag/AgCl. 

Figure 1 provides several electrochemical windows of important, relevant processes, including the reduction of alkyl carbonates, ethers, Li insertion into graphite, and Li metal deposition. Recent studies revealed two major failure mechanisms of graphite electrodes in repeated Li insertion/ deinsertion processes 21... 

The previous models were developed for Brownian particles, i.e. particles that are smaller than about 1 pm. Since most times particles that are industrially codeposited are larger than this, Fransaer developed a model for the codeposition of non-Brownian particles [38, 50], This model is based on a trajectory analysis of particles, including convective mass transport, geometrical interception, and migration under specific forces, coupled to a surface immobilization reaction. The codeposition process was separated in two sub-processes the reduction of metal ions and the concurrent deposition of particles. The rate of metal deposition was obtained from the diffusion... 

In contrast to a mixture of redox couples that rapidly reach thermodynamic equilibrium because of fast reaction kinetics, e.g., a mixture of Fe2+/Fe3+ and Ce3+/ Ce4+, due to the slow kinetics of the electroless reaction, the two (sometimes more) couples in a standard electroless solution are not in equilibrium. Nonequilibrium systems of the latter kind were known in the past as polyelectrode systems [18, 19]. Electroless solutions are by their nature thermodyamically prone to reaction between the metal ions and reductant, which is facilitated by a heterogeneous catalyst. In properly formulated electroless solutions, metal ions are complexed, a buffer maintains solution pH, and solution stabilizers, which are normally catalytic poisons, are often employed. The latter adsorb on extraneous catalytically active sites, whether particles in solution, or sites on mechanical components of the deposition system/ container, to inhibit deposition reactions. With proper maintenance, electroless solutions may operate for periods of months at elevated temperatures, and exhibit minimal extraneous metal deposition. 

Spiro [27] has derived quantitative expressions for the catalytic effect of electron conducting catalysts on oxidation-reduction reactions in solution in which the catalyst assumes the Emp imposed on it by the interacting redox couples. When both partial reaction polarization curves in the region of Emp exhibit Tafel type kinetics, he determined that the catalytic rate of reaction will be proportional to the concentrations of the two reactants raised to fractional powers in many simple cases, the power is one. On the other hand, if the polarization curve of one of the reactants shows diffusion-controlled kinetics, the catalytic rate of reaction will be proportional to the concentration of that reactant alone. Electroless metal deposition systems, at least those that appear to obey the MPT model, may be considered to be a special case of the general class of heterogeneously catalyzed reactions treated by Spiro. 

The MPT model was also reported to apply in a number other electroless metal deposition systems, including a) electroless Ni from a citrate-complexant solution with dimethylamine borane (DMAB) reductant, operated at pH = 7 (pH adjusted using NH4OH) and at a temperature (T) = 40 °C [33] b) electroless Au deposition [34] from a KAu(CN)2 containing solution, which utilized potassium borohydride... 

Although electroless deposition seems to offer greater prospects for deposit thickness and composition uniformity than electrodeposition, the achievement of such uniformity is a challenge. An understanding of catalysis and deposition mechanisms, as in Section 3, is inadequate to describe the operation of a practical electroless solution. Solution factors, such as the presence of stabilizers, dissolved O2 gas, and partially-diffusion-controlled, metal ion reduction reactions, often can strongly influence deposit uniformity. In the field of microelectronics, backend-of-line (BEOL) linewidths are approaching 0.1 pm, which is much less than the diffusion layer thickness for a... 

Fig. 14. Schematic representation of a mixed potential diagram for a generic electroless deposition reaction. The dashed line represents the current for metal ion reduction in the presence of a stronger complexing agent.

V to +0.7 V vs. RHE for a Pd surface. Normally, this is anodic, or positive, with respect to the Em value of the electroless reaction (Fig. 1). Following removal of the oxide species from the catalyst surface, whether deposition subsequently initiates or not depends on the interplay between the kinetics of the parallel metal ion and O2 reduction reactions, and oxidation of the reducing agent. Once an appropriate Em value is reached, metal deposition will occur. 

There is compelling evidence that reducing agent oxidation and metal ion reduction are, more often than not, interdependent reactions. Nonetheless, virtually all established mechanisms of the electroless deposition fail to take into account this reaction interdependence. An alternative explanation is that the potentials applied in the partial solution cell studies are different to those measured in the full electroless solution studies. Notwithstanding some differences in the actual potentials at the inner Helmholtz plane in the full solution relative to the partial solutions, it is hard to see how this could be a universal reason for the difference in rates of deposition measured in both types of solution. 

An electrochemical model for the process of electroless metal deposition was suggested by Paunovic (10) and Saito (8) on the basis of the Wagner-Traud (1) mixed-potential theory of corrosion processes. According to the mixed-potential theory of electroless deposition, the overall reaction given by Eq. (8.2) can be decomposed into one reduction reaction, the cathodic partial reaction. 

---