Silver is an important metal for electronic connectors, however, it is extremely soft and wear can be a significant issue. This paper describes how improved wear resistant silver coatings can be obtained from the electrolytic deposition of silver from a solution of AgCl in an ethylene glycol/choline chloride based Deep Eutectic Solvent. An up to 10-fold decrease in the wear volume is observed by the incorporation of SiC or Al(2)O(3) particles. The work also addresses the fundamental aspect of speciation of silver chloride in solution using EXAFS to probe solution structure. The size but not the nature of the composite particles is seen to change the morphology and grain size of the silver deposit. Grain sizes are shown to be consistent with previous nucleation studies. The addition of LiF is found to significantly affect the deposit morphology and improve wear resistance.

The subnitride Ca 2 N has been prepared via several synthetic routes described for the ®rst time, including reduction of Ca 3 N 2 and reaction of Ca metal dissolved in liquid sodium with nitrogen gas. Products have been characterised by powder X-ray and powder neutron diffraction. Crystallite morphology and compound stoichiometry have been examined by SEM/EDAX. Ca 2 N crystallises with a hexagonal layered structure in space group R3m (a~3.62872(3) A Ê , c~19.0921(4) A Ê , V~217.72(1) A Ê 3 , Z~3, c/a~5.26). [NCa 2 ] z layers composed of compressed, edge-sharing NCa 6 octahedra stack along the c-axis and are separated by large ``van der Waals'' gaps. The material is metallic and paramagnetic at room temperature. The c-parameter, [NCa 2 ] z layer thickness and interlayer gap are larger than previously reported and there is no evidence of hydride or other anion intercalation between layers. {Electronic supplementary information (ESI) available: XRD and POLARIS neutron diffraction re®nements. See

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