Copper Electrodeposition Dynamics at a Porous Flow-through Electrode

Abstract

The dynamics of the copper electrodeposition out of a dilute sulfuric acid solution of copper sulfate (straight-through regime, solution supplied from the rear at a velocity of ∼1 cm s−1) onto preliminarily metallized carbonaceous felt of the VINN-250 brand is studied. The profile, which describes the final deposit distribution, qualitatively conforms to predictions made in terms of a dynamic model for a porous electrode described previously, as does the nonmonotonic variation of the gain in the copper weight and the current efficiency for copper with time in the first half of the deposition process. At later stages of the process, along with the enhancement of the tendency towards the forcing of the copper electrodeposition process towards the front end of the electrode, there appears a new factor, which is not taken into account by the method. This factor is the deposition of a loose rough copper layer outside the porous electrode at its front side.