Structure of Electrodeposited Platinum/Cobalt Multilayers

The electrodeposition of Pt/Co multilayer has been investigated under potential control, referring to observation by reflection electron microscopy (REM). The structure of the multilayers obtained was characterized by transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The REM images revealed that three dimensional growth of Co electrodeposited on Pt(111), and the surface roughness was affected by the extent of overpotential. At a very high overpotential, the Co films consisted of fine homogeneous grains, while at a relatively low overpotential, the grains of Co films became inhomogeneouse. The morphologies of the multilayer interfaces also depended on deposition overpotential. The Pt/Co multilayer prepared by electrodeposition dose not have a texture and column boundaries along the growth direction in contrast to the multilayers prepared by PVD. It is evident that the structure of electrodeposited multilayer is quite different from that prepared by PVD. The relation between the structures of electrodeposited multilayers and the deposition overpotential is discussed.