Electrode Surface Morphology Characterization by Atomic Force Microscopy

The introduction of hydrogen into a metal during electrolysis of water involves primarily the metallic surface. The effect of surface morphology on electrochemical reaction kinetics is well described in the literature 1 therefore it seem s to be reasonable to assume that the surface morphology of the cathodes could play a role in the electrochemical metal-hydride formation. Actually, a wide variety of surface features and profiles have been observed in the Pd cathodes typically employed in excess heat production experiments. These features are noted in both the as-prepared samples and the electrolyzed ones. In order to establish a correlation between the occurrence of a particular surface morphology and calorimetric results, it is necessary to identify a useful metric with which to describe and compare the different surface morphologies. In this work an approach based on Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) has been investigated. The method is oriented toward the identification of parameters suitable for a prescreening of the materials.