Underpotential shift in electrodeposition of metal adlayer on tellurium and the free energy of metal telluride formation

Underpotential deposition (UPD) of metals on polycrystalline tellurium film shows much similarity with UPD of metals on foreign metals, but the underpotential shifts on tellurium show no correlation with differences of work functions of the substrate and the deposited metal. In this work, we have evaluated the underpotential shifts of Pb, Cd, Zn, Bi, In, Sn, and Cu UPD on tellurium from cyclic voltammograms and potentiodynamic profiles of inverse charge transfer resistance derived from potentiodynamic impedance spectra, and shown a correlation of the underpotential shifts with the free energy of the corresponding metal telluride formation. The correlation can help to predict underpotential shifts for metals with complications in the measurement of this parameter.