A Disproportionation Reaction-Driven Electroless Deposition of Metals in RTILs

Abstract

Room-temperature ionic liquids (RTILs) are molten salts composed entirely of cations and anions, which have attracted intensive interest as new possible media for electrodeposition of metals, because RTILs have many advantages such as a wide electrochemical potential window, high ionic conductivity, and good thermal stability [1][2][3][4]. Also, there are a rising number of publications [5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15] demonstrating that anions and cations of RTILs can influence chemical and physicochemical reactions. RTILs are not only liquids with interesting physical properties, but also they can totally alter reaction pathways and products [5,6]. Previous attempts on RTILs have revealed that, as a new kind of solvents, they are favorable templates for the preparation of predictable chemical nanostructures [7][8][9][10]. RTILs stabilize metal nanoparticles due to their high ionic and dielectric properties, high polarity, and the ability to form supramolecular networks. A protective shell can be fabricated because anions will coordinate with the prepared metal nanoparticles and cations form hydrogen bridges with anions [7][8][9][10]