Silver Electrodeposition from Room Temperature Ionic Liquid Electrolytes

Abstract

Room temperature ionic liquids (RTIL) possess a number of unique properties that make them attractive for reversible silver systems, such as their relatively high conductivity, large electrochemical and liquid phase windows, and their ability to solvate high concentrations of metal ions of interest. The present work focuses on deposition and stripping of silver thin films using RTIL with relative low moisture and air sensitivity. Simple cells composed of transparent electrically conductive electrodes were used and evaluated as a function of the different doping elements (i.e. indium tin oxide, platinum and silver). In this work, the system is evaluated in terms of RTIL electrolyte, substrate material and operating conditions including pulse voltage fields using cyclic voltammetry and chronoamperometry techniques. These studies were conducted in terms of cycling efficiency and reproducibility.