During the last century physicists and chemists succeed to fabricate materials in nanometer scale, they showed that these materials exhibit unexpected properties, which differ from those of the bulk materials. Different methods were proposed to achieve such materials which can be classified into three main categories: Physical, Chemical and Mechanical methods. Among the chemical fabrication ways, the electrochemical methods are very attractive. The electrode potential allows the rate and temporal profile of the nanostructure growth and dissolution to be controlled with high accuracy.

The method we intend to develop can not be classified in the categories given above. It consists in the combination of two processes: electrochemical reaction which dissolves the anode and produces a given surface roughness with peninsulas and a mechanical one which provokes detachment of pieces of metal and thus the production of particles injected into the solution. Previously, some authors showed that during the beryllium dissolution¹, disintegration of the anode and the detachment of pieces of metal (particles) are observed. Their properties in terms of shape and size distribution remain controversial. Few works in the literature give a size varying from few atoms to microns, but no evidence is given about the relevant parameters which control these particles properties.

In the present work, we show using the cellular automaton model that the surface roughness during metal dissolution can be enough to induce small metal particles detachment. Additional to the surface roughness we show that the properties of these particles depend also on the material crystalline defects. In parallel to our theoretical study, we perform some electrochemical measurements in which we observe Faraday law deviation. Particles characterisations by using light scattering and TEM experiments are in progress.

References

[1] H. Aida, I. Epelboin, M. Garreau, J. Electrochem. Soc. 107, 960, (1971).

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