Homogeneous calcium carbonate coating obtained by electrodeposition: in situ atomic force microscope observations

The evolution of the first stages of the crystallization of an electrochemically deposited calcium carbonate on indium tin oxide (ITO) electrode has been investigated. The electrodeposition was driven applying a constant negative potential to a NaHCO3 and CaCl2 solution saturated with molecular oxygen. By this way, novel data about the kinetics of the crystal growth of CaCO3 were collected from the AFM images. The results show that at the solution supersaturation levels used, the crystal growth occurred by a uniform surface nucleation mechanism. During the growth of the initial nuclei, the surface of the electrode was covered progressively by the growth of flat multilayers having triangular faces. The height of these structures ranged from one to several molecular layers of calcium carbonate. At the end of the crystallization process, the roughness of the electrode surface is reduced in average to two monolayers. Thus, our method provides a useful way to electrodeposit a nearly uniform layer of calcium carbonate on a variety of surfaces of potential applications.