Electrosynthesis Of Thermoelectric Materials By Electrochemical Atomic Layer Epitaxy: A Preliminary Investigation

The use of electrochemical atomic layer epitaxy for the electrosynthesis of high quality rh in films of thermoelectric materials is studied. Specifically, the rise of sequential underpotential deposition (upd) cycles of Sb and Co for the production of CoSb phases on Au substrates is investigated. Stable atomic layers of Sb can be formed on Au, and were imaged for the first time by STM. These layers consist of randomly distributed islands of Sb with a mean diameter of 5.5 nm and a mean height of 0.35 nm. Co upd layers appear to form in situ on Art, but do not survive transfer to the Sb deposition solution. In contrast, stable upd layers of Co can be produced on the Sb/Au surface. In addition, there is a 180 mV positive shift of the Co upd Formal potential to more positive values, suggestive of the formation of a stable CoSb phase.