Deep eutectic solvent

Metal

Choline chloride

Composite number

Engineering

Metallurgy

Materials science

Layer (electronics)

Solvent

Electroplating

Chemical engineering

Physical chemistry

Grain size

Chloride

Organic chemistry

Alloy

Eutectic system

Silver chloride

Composite material

Chemistry

Electrode

Nucleation

Electrolyte

Ethylene glycol

Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics

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 Al2O3 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 electrodeposition of silver composites using deep eutectic solvents