Electroless Plating of Aluminum from a Room-Temperature Ionic Liquid Electrolyte

Abstract

Because aluminum is a less-noble metal which has the standard electrode potential of vs normal hydrogen electrode, it is impossible to obtain the electrodeposition of aluminum from an aqueous solution. No one has reported an electroless plating method of aluminum. We succeeded in demonstrating the electroless plating of aluminum from a room-temperature ionic liquid (RTIL). It was found from measurements of inductively coupled plasma, X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), SEM-energy-dispersive X-ray analysis, and glow discharge optical emission spectroscopy that dense, smooth, and pure aluminum plating was obtained from the RTIL by the electroless plating method. Moreover, the reaction mechanism of the electroless plating of aluminum from the RTIL electrolyte was electrochemically analyzed.