The electrodeposition of Fe, Co and Fe-Co alloys onto Pt has been investigated from chloride solutions at pH 2.0. The Fe-Co alloys were deposited from solutions with molar ratio of 1:10, 1:1 and 10:1. Electrocrystallization of metals was studied by potentiostatic steps. The Scharifker and Hills model was used to analyze current transients. A progressive nucleation mechanism was found to fit the experimental results for both Co and Fe-Co alloys deposited from 1:10 solution. In the case of pure Fe and Fe-Co alloy, deposited from 1:1 and 10:1 solutions, the nucleation process occurred by the instantaneous mechanism. The nuclei number densities and rate of nucleation were calculated and their values were 2.6 to 19.1 x 10³ cm-2 for Fe and 0.10 to 15.8 x 10(6) cm-2 s-1 for Co deposition.
nucleation; electrodeposition; iron alloys; electrocrystallization
