A Dynamic Mesh Method to Model Shape Change during Electrodeposition

A novel dynamic mesh-based approach is proposed to simulate shape change of the deposit front during electrodeposition. Primary and secondary current distributions are computed. The proposed numerical model is tested on a two dimensional system for which analytical solutions was previously presented by Subramanian andWhite [J. Electrochem. Soc., 2002, C498-C505]. Firstly, calculations are carried out only in the electrolyte where the deposit front is considered to be the boundary of the computational domain. Secondly, a fully coupled simulation is carried out, and field structures such as electric potential and electric current density are computed both in the electrolyte and deposit. It is found that the deposit region must be included in calculations of primary current distribution as the magnitude of electric potential is inevitably non-zero at the deposit front during electrodeposition. However, the deposit front can be accurately tracked considering secondary current distribution with or without involving the deposit region in our calculations. All transient results are shown through animations in the supplemental materials.