Vol. 25, No. 2 (2026), Mat26762 https://doi.org/10.24275/rmiq/Mat26762

A kinetic study on the influence of temperature on cobalt electrodeposition onto a monocrystalline Au(111) electrode

 

Authors

L.H. Mendoza-Huizar, C.H. Rios-Reyes

Abstract

In this work, a kinetic study of cobalt electrodeposition onto Au(111) was carried out from a solution containing 0.005 M CoCl₂ in 1 M NH₄Cl (pH 9.5), by means of cyclic voltammetry and potential step methods to assess the influence of temperature. An increase in temperature led to higher kinetic and nucleation parameters, facilitating cobalt reduction onto the Au(111) surface. Nondimensional plots of the current-time transients revealed that the overpotential deposition followed a three-dimensional progressive nucleation model. Analysis of the transients obtained at various applied potentials enabled the determination of the nucleation rate constant and the density of active nucleation sites, both of which increased with more cathodic potentials and elevated temperatures. The temperature dependence of the nucleation and diffusion processes was satisfactorily described by an Arrhenius-type relationship. Apparent activation energies ranging from 24 to 42 kJ·mol⁻¹ were calculated for nucleation, while a value of 32.6 kJ·mol⁻¹ was obtained for diffusion, indicating that at low overpotentials, cobalt electrodeposition is mainly governed by interfacial nucleation and growth phenomena.

Keywords

kinetic, cobalt, electrodeposition, Au(111), activation energy.

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