In situ spectroscopic ellipsometry during electrochemical treatment of zinc in alkaline carbonate electrolyte

In situ spectroscopic ellipsometry (SE, 297-820 nm, 4.4-1.5 eV) during electrochemical oxidation/reduction of zinc in alkaline carbonate electrolyte was performed using a specially designed optical-electrochemical cell. The growth and shrinkage of the interfacial layer on Zn was analysed on the basis of Lekner's first order perturbation theory. For non-absorbing thin films on metal surfaces, an algorithm has been derived to extract the thickness of a surface film directly from ellipsometric data without the need of optical modelling. During cyclic voltammetry (CV), a rapid decrease/increase in the layer thickness in the reduction/oxidation peak has been found. In the potential regime where the surface is oxide-covered, the layer thickness increases/decreases linearly with potential in anodic/cathodic scans. The density of the interfacial region in this regime is constant. During chronoamperometric experiments, a fast correlating jump in thickness was found after potential jumps. An ageing of the films is observed in the absorption spectrum (from the ellipsometric parameter Psi), which shows changes until approximate to 30 min after potential jumps. Analysis of the current transients points to continuous dissolution of Zn. (c) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.