Electrodeposition of aluminium and aluminium-copper alloys from a room temperature ionic liquid electrolyte containing aluminium chloride and triethylamine hydrochloride

The electrodeposition of Al and Al-Cu binary alloys on to gold substrates from a room temperature ionic liquid electrolyte containing AlCl3-Et3NHCl was studied. The electrochemical behavior of the electrolyte and the mechanism of deposition were investigated through cyclic voltammetry (CV), and the properties of deposits obtained were assessed by scanning electron microscopy with energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (SEM-EDS) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). Al of 70 μm in thickness and an Al-Cu alloy of 30 μm in thickness with 8at% copper were deposited from the electrolyte. SEM images of the deposits indicate that the Al deposit was smooth and uniform, whereas the Al-Cu deposit was nodular. The average crystalline size, as determined by XRD patterns, was found to be (30 ± 5) and (29 ± 5) nm, respectively, for Al and Al-Cu alloys. Potentiodynamic polarization (Tafel plots) and electrochemical impedance spectroscopic (EIS) measurements showed that Al-Cu alloys are more corrosion resistant than Al.