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Project

Electrochemistry of liquid metal salts.

Ionic liquids are solvents that entirely consist of ions. They have interesting properties such as extremely low vapour pressure, high resistance to chemical attack, and intrinsic electric conductivity. Ionic liquids are good candidates for use as electrolytes for the electrodeposition of metals. Unfortunately, metal salts are often only sparingly soluble in ionic liquids. The solubility issue of metal ions in ionic liquids can be solved by making the metal an integral part of the ionic liquid. This project is about the design and electrochemical properties of new ionic liquids with metal-containing cations and weakly coordinating anions. The basic design principle is to surround the metal ion by neutral ligands so that its electric charge is delocalized over a larger volume. The weaker electrostatic cation-anion interactions result in a material with a lower melting point. The strength of the interactions between the cation and the ligands determine the electrochemical kinetics. These compounds can be considered as liquid metal salts as they are equivalent to conventional metal salts but liquid at room temperature. The structure of the newly synthesised ionic liquids will be studied in the solid state by X-ray crystallography and in the liquid state by different spectroscopic techniques. The electrochemical properties of the metal-containing ionic liquids and the possibility to electrodeposit metals and alloys from these electrolytes will be investigated in detail.
Date:1 Jan 2013 →  31 Dec 2016
Keywords:Ionic liquids, Metals salts, Electrodeposition, Thin metal films
Disciplines:Inorganic chemistry, Organic chemistry, Theoretical and computational chemistry, Other chemical sciences, Physical chemistry, Analytical chemistry, Metallurgical engineering