A mechanistic study of electrodeposition of bismuth telluride on stainless steel substrates

Journal article, 2010

Miniaturization of Bi2Te3 compounds is of great interest in semiconductor industries due to their distinct anisotropic thermoelectric properties at room temperature. The aim of the present work was to investigate the mechanism of the electrodeposition of Bi2Te3 compounds on stainless steel substrates and relate the morphology and composition of the resulting deposits to experimental parameters. Cyclic voltammetry (CV) experiments in acidic solutions containing Bi3+ and/or HTeO2+ ions show that the deposition potential for the Bi2Te3 compound is more positive than either of the single elements alone. A detailed mechanism of the co-deposition was obtained by varying the concentrations of the two elements and evaluating the corresponding morphological and compositional changes of the deposits. The results show that the deposition of Te is kinetically hindered and that Bi deposition plays a major role during the co-deposition.