Perspectives and Impact of the Hull Cell for the Electrodeposition of Alloys and Metal Matrix Composites

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Alloy and metal matrix composite electrodeposited materials are of interest due to their unique and often superior properties compared to their elemental counterparts. However, the deposit composition is not always known a priori due to coupled kinetic behavior of different reduction reactions and the influence of second phase particles. Models can enable predicting deposit composition from different electrolytes, and to validate such models data is needed. While a Hull cell and a rotating Hull cell are convenient tools to survey resulting deposit compositions with current density, it can also be used to provide information to better understand the deposition mechanisms and kinetic-transport behavior. In this talk, the history of the use of a Hull cell and rotating Hull cell will be discussed in the context of the underlying theory in current distribution, and the cautionary tale of when a Hull cell design is not always useful. Today, integrating scanning compositional tools with linear sweep voltammetry, the rotating Hull cell can be used to swiftly determine the partial current densities of metal ion reduction in the study of alloy systems that exhibit anomalous and induced codeposition. It can also aid in the study of composite electrodeposition to incorporate second phase particles into a growing metal matrix alloys. Extracting kinetic and mass transport data from this approach can help to develop better models for the electrodeposition process itself that governs the resulting deposit composition. Furthermore, new directions in the use of a Hull cell cell to assess electrodeposits for gas evolving reactions, such as the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) in water splitting will be discussed.