Template-Free Fabrication of Diameter-Modulated Co-Zn/Oxide Wires from a Chlorozincate Ionic Liquid by Using Pulse Potential Electrodeposition

Abstract

Diameter-modulated Co-Zn wires consisting of beads which are linked by stems can be prepared by using a square-wave pulse potential electrodeposition method from a 40-60 mol% ZnCl 2 -EMIC ionic liquid containing 5.0 mol% CoCl 2 at 70 • C without the use of a template. The effects of pulse potential and pulse duration on the physical dimensions of the Co-Zn wires such as the diameters of the stem and bead as well as the spacing between the beads were investigated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HR-TEM). It is concluded that the sizes of the segmented Co-Zn wires can be tuned by changing the pulse potentials and durations.

Template-Free Electrodeposition of Net-Like Co-Al/Oxide Structures from a Lewis Acidic Chloroaluminate Room Temperature Ionic Liquid Using a Potential Step Method

“…After this, the i 1 and i 2 currents gradually approach to steady-state values, indicating the Co-Al deposits are growing steadily during each potential step cycle. From previous literature 21,22 it can be inferred that the cathodic current i 1 during t 1 is attributed to the growth of the Co-Al wires primarily along the growth axial direction. The sharp drop in the cathodic current at E 2 during t 2 is attributed to a reduced deposition rate along the growth axial direction, but allows the expanding of the wire diameter during t 2 at E 2 (please see Fig.…”

“…Both Co and Al are known to be sensitive to oxidation when contacts with ambient atmosphere, and the formation of oxides has also been observed in previous studies on the electrodeposition of Co, and Al wires. 21,22 Further, spotty rings were observed in the corresponding SAED pattern (inset in Fig. 7A) of the sample, indicating the deposits were polycrystalline in nature.…”

“…Because constant potential electrolysis was employed in all the above studies for template-free electrodeposition of nanowires from ILs, nanowires with fairly uniform diameter along their growth direction were obtained. Recently, we have demonstrated that Al 21 as well as CoZn 22 beaded nanowires with modulated diameter could be obtained by pulse potential deposition. In the pulse potential deposition, the electrode potential was repeatedly stepped between two different values, E 1 and E 2 , for short time duration of t 1 and t 2 , respectively.…”

Direct Electrodeposition of Aluminum Nanowires from a Room Temperature Ionic Liquid: An Electrochemical 2D-3D-1D Process

“…In recent years, it has been discovered that several kinds of metals, such as Sn, [21][22][23] Zn, 24,25 Te, [26][27][28] Co, 29 Sb, 30 Al [31][32][33] and some alloys (Cu-Sn, 34 Sn-Si, 35 Cu-Zn, 36 Ni-Zn, 37 Fe-Co-Zn, 38 Co-Sm 39 and Co-Zn) 40 exhibit one-dimensional growth tendency in direct electrodeposition from specific ionic liquids. Some attempts are successful in template-free electrodeposition of wires, rods, belts and tubes under certain conditions accordingly.…”