Modified surfaces by electrodeposition for energy devices

The global environmental concerns and the escalating demand for energy, coupled with a steady progress in renewable energy technologies, are opening up new opportunities for the utilization of renewable energy resources. Electrodeposition is well known for depositing metals and metallic alloys at the industrial level, with a wide range of applications from large area surface treatments to most advanced electronic industries. Electrodeposition of semiconducting materials represents a new challenge, not only from the academic point of view, but also from the economic point of view, since this method presents interesting characteristics for large area, low cost and generally low temperature and soft processing of materials. In this presentation, we exploited alternated electrodeposition of some metals by E-ALD (Electrochemical Atomic Layer Deposition) to obtain thin films, controlling the growth of the structures at the nanometric level. Selective Electrodesorption Based Atomic Layer Deposition (SEBALD [1]) was used to prepare new bimetallic electrodes for fuel cells. This new method of Electrodeposition, recently pointed out in Florence on the base of ECALE method [2], allows to deposit under morphological and compositional control those metals that cannot be deposited at underpotential. We have recently reported the use of nanostructured palladium in the realization of a new “green” and energetically self-sustainable paradigm for the chemical industry based on the electro-oxidation of renewable alcohols [3]. The exploitation of the catalytic properties of palladium toward the oxidation of alcohols strongly depends on the availability of methods capable of generating supported metal nanoparticles with high index facets, as well as selecting size and metal loading. The concomitant control of all these aspects is a major challenge for nanotechnology oriented to catalysis and electrocatalysis. To achieve these targets we developed a method (Electrochemical Milling and Faceting – ECMF [4]), consisting of an electrochemical post-deposition treatment. Ultimately the purpose of the method is to perform a milling and faceting of the palladium nanoparticles deposited by virtually any known deposition method.