Electrochemical deposition of Co–Sb thin films on nanostructured gold

Abstract

The electrochemical behavior of the Co–Sb system on Au substrate during cyclic voltammetry and potentiostatic deposition was investigated. Electrochemical behavior of Co and Sb was studied and compared to the Co–Sb system. At a negative potential (−0.9 V vs. Ag/AgCl) the electrochemical behavior of this binary system was similar to that of individual Co and Sb combined. For more negative vertex potentials (e.g., −1.2 V vs. Ag/AgCl), results from cyclic voltammetry have shown the presence of a new compound different from Co and Sb which could only be detected at slow sweep rate. The deposition performed at constant potentials between −1.0 and −1.2 V have resulted in films that were made of CoSb3 and Sb as indicated by XRD. Surface film studied by SEM and EDS has shown morphological and compositional non-uniformities caused by hydrogen evolution.