FRACTAL ANALYSIS OF ZINC ELECTRODEPOSITION

A simple method is proposed for the determination of the fractal dimension during the electrodeposition of zinc by current integration. Under various experimental conditions, 0.01M ZnSO4, 2–12V, the patterns formed exhibit scale-invariance characteristics. The fractal dimension of the two-dimensional zinc deposits increases with the applied voltage (or applied current), while the morphology changes from highly branched random aggregate to the radial dense structure. A stochastic model based on the dielectric breakdown model (DBM) is proposed and the simulation analysis indicates that the relative resistivity between the zinc aggregate and the electrolytic solution can play an important role in the pattern transformation. A theoretical model based on the fractal theory is derived to estimate this ratio. © 1990, The Electrochemical Society, Inc. All rights reserved.