Kinetic Monte Carlo Study of Electrochemical Growth in a Heteroepitaxial System

TL;DR

This study uses kinetic Monte Carlo simulations to analyze electrochemical metal deposition in a heteroepitaxial system, exploring different models of adatom deposition and their effects on growth.

Contribution

It introduces three limiting models of adatom deposition considering diffusion, providing insights into the kinetic and structural aspects of electrochemical growth.

Findings

Model C shows faster growth rates with neighboring adatoms.

Deposition patterns vary significantly across models.

Diffusion influences the morphology of the deposited metal.

Abstract

Structural and kinetic aspects of 2-D irreversible metal deposition under potentiostatic conditions are analyzed by means of dynamic Monte Carlo simulations employing embedded atom potentials for a model system. Three limiting models, all considering adatom diffusion, were employed to describe adatom deposition.The first model (A) considers adatom deposition on any free substrate site on the surface at the same rate. The second model (B) considers adatom deposition only on substrate sites which exhibit no neighboring sites occupied by adatoms. The third model (C) allows deposition at higher rates on sites presenting neighboring sites occupied by adatoms.