Comparison of Physical/Chemical Properties of Prussian Blue Thin Films Prepared by Different Pulse and DC Electrodeposition Methods

Vahideh Bayzi Isfahani; Ali Arab; João Horta Belo; João Pedro Araújo; Maria Manuela Silva; Bernardo Gonçalves Almeida

doi:10.3390/ma15248857

Comparison of Physical/Chemical Properties of Prussian Blue Thin Films Prepared by Different Pulse and DC Electrodeposition Methods

Materials (Basel). 2022 Dec 12;15(24):8857. doi: 10.3390/ma15248857.

Authors

Vahideh Bayzi Isfahani^{1

2

3}, Ali Arab⁴, João Horta Belo⁵, João Pedro Araújo⁵, Maria Manuela Silva², Bernardo Gonçalves Almeida¹

Affiliations

¹ Centre of Physics of Minho and Porto Universities (CF-UM-UP), LAPMET, Physics Department, University of Minho, Campus of Gualtar, 4710-057 Braga, Portugal.
² Department of Chemistry and Center of Chemistry, University of Minho, Campus of Gualtar, 4710-057 Braga, Portugal.
³ Faculty of Physics, Semnan University, Semnan P.O. Box 35195-363, Iran.
⁴ Department of Chemistry, Semnan University, Semnan P.O. Box 35131-19111, Iran.
⁵ Institute of Physics of Advanced Materials, Nanotechnology and Photonics (IFIMUP), Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Porto, Rua Campo Alegre, 4169-007 Porto, Portugal.

Abstract

Prussian Blue (PB) thin films were prepared by DC chronoamperometry (CHA), symmetric pulse, and non-symmetric pulse electrodeposition techniques. The formation of PB was confirmed by infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) and UV-Vis transmission measurements. X-ray diffraction (XRD) shows the stabilization of the insoluble form of PB. From scanning electron microscopy (SEM) studies, an increase in porosity is obtained for the shorter pulse widths, which tends to improve the total charge exchange and electrochemical stability of the films. While the film prepared by CHA suffered a degradation of 82% after 260 cycles, the degradation reduced to 24% and 34% for the samples prepared by the symmetric and non-symmetric pulse methods, respectively. Additionally, in the non-symmetric pulse film, the improvement in the charge exchange reached ~522% after 260 cycles. According to this study, the deposition time distribution affects the physical/chemical properties of PB films. These results then render pulse electrodeposition methods especially suitable to produce high-quality thin films for electrochemical devices, based on PB.

Keywords: Prussian blue; charge exchange; electrochemical devices; electrochemical stability; pulse electrodeposition.

Grants and funding

This work was supported by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT), through the projects POCI-01-0145-FEDER-029454, NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-028538, PTDC/NAN-MAT/0098/2020 and UID/QUI/0686/2020. It was also funded by the R&D project “SOLPOWINS”, with reference PTDC/CTM-REF/4304/2020, and E-Field- “Electric-Field Engineered Lattice Distortions (E-FiELD) for optoelectronic devices”, ref. PTDC/NAN-MAT/0098/2020, financed by the FCT.