A complementary survey of staircase voltammetry with metal ion deposition on macroelectrodes

•Staircase voltammetry with metal deposition is reviewed.•IR drop, low charge transfer, current integration and anodic dissolution are studied.•3D nucleation is discussed.

Further analysis of staircase voltammetry for reversible and quasi-reversible metal ion deposition on a same metal electrode and on a foreign electrode is presented. Literal solutions and numerical simulation are used to quantify the electrochemical response under conditions of planar semi-infinite diffusion. Addressed topics include: consideration of the uncompensated resistance, comparison of the apparent charge found by integration of the voltammograms with the actual faradaic charge transferred, anodic dissolution of the deposit in a cyclical potential scan, properties and interest of the zero-crossing point, occurrence of 3D nucleation overvoltage.