Additive Mediated Nucleation and Growth during Electrodeposition: High-throughput Experiments and Multiscale Simulation

University Of Illinois At Urbana-Champaign, Urbana IL

Investigators

Abstract

Abstract Proposal Title: Additive Mediated Nucleation and Growth during Electrodeposition: High-Throughput Experiments and Multiscale Simulation Proposal Number: CTS-0438356 Principal Investigator: Richard C. Alkire and Richard D. Braatz Institution: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Analysis (rationale for decision): New applications in materials, medicine, and computers are being discovered where precise control of events at multiple scales is critical to product quality. The particular focus for research is on events that control behavior at the solid-liquid interface during nucleation and growth of electrodeposited metal clusters and films in the presence of solution additives. Although additives play a central role at the atomic scale, the primary manipulation of these events during manufacturing processes occurs at macroscopic length scales. This proposal addresses the challenge of replacing trial-and-error experimentation and design, with a multiscale approach that spans from the atomistic scale to the macroscopic process scale. The intellectual merit of the work is to understand of how nucleation and early stages of deposit growth are influenced by trace quantities of solution additives during electrodeposition of metals, and to incorporate that knowledge in multiscale simulations "from molecules to processes." The proposal addresses how small-scale surface interactions guide spontaneous self-organization, how to design and control systems which include uncertainties in the physicochemical mechanisms as well as in values of parameters, and how to insure quality control at multiple scales in manufacturing. This proposal takes strategic advantage of high end computing in order to provide a re-usable approach that has the potential for contributing well beyond the specific applications considered here in its development. The specific contributions include (a) a novel high-throughput experimental method for characterizing nucleation and growth, (b) linked stochastic/continuum multiscale simulations, (c) computational analysis tools for comparing experiment and theory, and (d) integration of the foregoing tools to accommodate the rapid advancement of physical knowledge and its transfer into innovative technological applications.