Combinatorial methods provide a new paradigm for advancing scientific discovery. These methods have captured the attention of the materials industry with the promise of providing new discoveries "faster, better and cheaper.'' Thousands of similar, but unique, materials can be created in a single experiment and then tested for a desired property. Typical methods for creating these "libraries'' of materials are complex, expensive, and slow. Here we describe a simple method for creating a composition-spread library of copper-zinc alloys, where composition varies as a function of position, via electrodeposition. Electrodeposition is a simple, inexpensive, and fast deposition method that is easily scaled to industrial proportions. Seven copper-zinc alloys with different compositions were prepared, in bulk, by one-at-a-time electrodeposition methods. The composition and structure of these alloys are compared to alloys prepared by combinatorial methods. It is shown that copper-zinc alloys prepared using combinatorial methods via electrodeposition are representative of bulk alloys prepared by one-at-a-time methods. Therefore, combinatorial methods via electrodeposition embodies, and even extends, the advantages of combinatorial methods: "faster, better, cheaper, simpler, and scalable.'' (C) 2003 The Electrochemical Society. All rights reserved.
