Development of non-aqueous electrochemical process for new functional materials

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The electrolytic codeposition of hydrophobic and hydrophilic micron-and nano-sized particles with aluminium from a non-aqueous electrolyte is illustrated. This introductory investigation demonstrates that the feasibility of codeposition of micron-and nano-sized particles from non-aqueous electrolytes. The large degree of codeposition of particles of different hydrophobicity confirms also that the elimination of the hydration force achieved by using non-aqueous electrolytes, suppresses the major limitations experienced in electrolytic codeposition from aqueous electrolytes. These limitations are the agglomeration of particles and the extremely difficulty to achieve, codeposition of hydrophobic particles like SiO_2, Al_2O_3, TiO_2, even the micron-size ones. Composite plating with nano-sized particles from relatively low cost and easily operational non-aqueous electrolytes opens the way towards the development of thin films and coatings with unique functional properties. The feasibility of codepositing particles from non-aqueous solutions opens new fields of applications of composite plating.The electrodeposition of active metals, e.g. Al, Mg, and rare earths, from aqueous media is actually impossible due to their largely negative redox potentials. We developed a new ammonium-imide salt, trimethyl-n-hexylammonium bis ((trifluoromethyl)sulfonyl) amide (TMHA-Tf_2N) and investigated the electrodeposition of Mg and Zn-Mg alloy. Metalic Mg, which cannot be electrodepo sited from aqueous solution, was obtained at -2.8 V or ower potentials. Although the TMHA-Tf_2N liquid is hydrophobic, the deposition of Mg and its alloy was fairly affected by residual water in an electrolytic bath.