Mechanism of hydrogen desorption during palladium brush-plating

Continuous Pd deposits were fabricated by brush-plating. The morphologies of the Pd deposits were characterized by atom force microscopy (AFM). No micro-cracks were found in the deposits. The deposits were made up of spherical nano-clusters. Analyses of the morphology of Pd deposits brush-plated with different anode sliding speeds indicated that the H2 bubbles desorbed from the deposits by two modes, passive and active, respectively. For the first mode, H2 bubbles are removed by the anode movement. For the second mode, H2 bubbles escape from the deposits actively. As a result, pores were avoided in the Pd deposit by brush-plating. A deposit self-repairing mechanism in Pd brush-plating is proposed.