Electrochemical Aspects of Ionic Liquids (Ohno/Electrochemical Aspects of Ionic Liquids) || Electrodeposition of Metals in Ionic Liquids

✍ Scribed by Ohno, Hiroyuki

• Publisher: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
• Year: 2005
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 164 KB
• Edition: 1
• Category: Article
• ISBN: 0471648515
• DOI: 10.1002/0471762512.ch9

✦ Synopsis

Electrodeposition of metals and alloys in condensed media, including electro-and electrolessplating, has been an essential technology for the advanced electronics industry, besides its conventional industrial uses in electrorefining, decoration, corrosion protection, and other functional surface finishing. Most practical wet processes are based on aqueous media, mainly because of the knowledge and experience accumulated over many years. However, the metals that can be deposited in aqueous media are limited by the electrochemical potential window of water. Thus such nonaqueous media as aprotic organic electrolytes and high temperature molten salts have been investigated as the alternative electrolytes for the electrodeposition of base metals.

Room-temperature ionic liquids are the promising electrolytes for the electrodeposition of various metals because they have the merits of both organic electrolytes and high-temperature molten salts. Ionic liquids can be used in a wide temperature range, so temperatures can be elevated to accelerate such phenomena as nucleation, surface diffusion and crystallization associated with the electrodeposition of metals. In addition the process can be safely constructed because ionic liquids are neither flammable nor volatile if they are kept below the thermal decomposition temperature of the organic cations.