[1][2][3] It can serve for the recovery of metals or metalloids into solid precipitates[4] or for the synthesis of libraries of nanoparticles.
[1] The gas-diffusion electrocrystallization process was invented in 2014 by Xochitl Dominguez Benetton at the Flemish Institute for Technological Research, in Belgium.
The liquid solution containing dissolved metal ions (e.g., CuCl2, ZnCl2) flows through an electrochemical cell equipped with a gas diffusion electrode, making contact with its electrically conducting part (typically a porous layer).
In steady state, a reaction front is fully developed throughout the hydrodynamic boundary layer.
This creates local saturation conditions at the electrochemical interface, where metal ions precipitate in metastable or stable phases depending on the operational variables.