Electroless and Electrodeposition of Silver from a Choline Chloride-Based Ionic Liquid

Muhammad Rostom Ali; Muhammad Ziaur Rahman; Siddhartha Sankar Saha

doi:10.52763/PJSIR.PHYS.SCI.58.2.2015.66.73

Muhammad Rostom Ali Department of Applied Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, University of Rajshahi, Rajshahi-6205, Bangladesh
Muhammad Ziaur Rahman Department of Applied Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, University of Rajshahi, Rajshahi-6205, Bangladesh
Siddhartha Sankar Saha bDepartment of Chemistry, Rajshahi University of Engineering and Technology, Rajshahi-6204, Bangladesh

DOI: https://doi.org/10.52763/PJSIR.PHYS.SCI.58.2.2015.66.73

Keywords: cyclic voltammetry, electrodeposition, electroless deposition, ethaline, reline, silver

Abstract

The electroless and electrolytic deposition of silver from a solution containing silver nitrate in either an ethylene glycol (EG)-choline chloride based or a urea-choline chloride based ionic liquids has been carried out onto steel and copper cathodes by simple immersion, constant current and constant potential methods at room temperature. It has been found that electroless silver deposits of up to several microns
have been obtained by dip coating from both urea and EG based ionic liquids without the use of catalysts. The influences of various experimental conditions on electrodeposition and morphology of the deposited layers have been investigated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). It has been observed that crack free bright metallic coloured silver coatings can be obtained from both EG and urea based ionic liquids at the applied deposition potentials up to -0.40 V and applied deposition current densities up to -5.0 A m-2 at room temperature. The cathodic current efficiency for the deposition of Ag is about 99%.