Study of copper deposit on a porous electrode of carbon and stainless steel by sem-xrd and image analysis

Abstract

The purpose of this work was to make a qualitative analysis of the distribution of copper deposit inside of stainless steel and graphite porous electrodes. For that, representative sections of steel and graphite samples were analyzed by stereoscopic microscopy, SEM-XRD analysis and image analysis by software Scentis Struers Software®. The analysis showed that the copper is not deposited uniformly over the electrode thickness. For steel electrode, the deposit depth in the thickness was around 50%, while graphite electrode about 90% of the thickness. In general, an increase of the deposit towards the end facing the anode was observed and with different sites of copper deposit growth. This behavior shows a current and voltage distribution which is a function of the physical parameters of electrode, and physicochemical and hydrodynamic characteristics of the electrolyte.