Existence of a Lower Critical Radius for Incorporation of Silica Particles into Zinc during Electro-codeposition

摘要

Recently, it was shown that the surface modification of silica particles with — SH functional groups enables their electro-codeposition with zinc. Here, however, we report that no incorporation into Zn can be observed for such modified particles with diameters of < 100 nm, while incorporation is possible for particles with diameters of 225 nm and larger. Furthermore, when silica particles are functionalized with mixtures of —SH and —Cl functional groups, which affect the interface energy at the particle/metal interface differently but have similar interracial energies for the particle/ electrolyte interface, it is found that, for successful incorporation of the particles, a minimum amount of —SH functional groups is needed. An explanation for these observations has been derived based on energetic considerations regarding the interfaces involved in the process.