화학공학소재연구정보센터
Journal of the Electrochemical Society, Vol.148, No.5, C395-C402, 2001
Galvanostatic pulse plating of Cu-Al alloy in a room-temperature chloroaluminate molten salt - Rotating ring-disk electrode studies
The galvanostatic plating of Cu-Al alloy was examined at a platinum electrode in solutions of Cu+ in the 60.0-40.0 mol % aluminum chloride-1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride room-temperature molten salt at 28 degreesC using periodic-current plating techniques. The plating techniques that were investigated include pulse current, superimposed-pulse current, and reverse-pulse current. The composition of the electrodeposited alloy was determined by using rotating ring-disk anodic linear sweep voltammetry. The electrodeposition of Cu-Al is complicated by the instability of the alloy in solutions containing Cu+. If alloy electrodeposits are removed from cathodic protection while immersed in the plating bath, a condition that occurs during the pulse plating "off- time,'' t(off), Cu+ in the plating solution oxidizes Al from the electrodeposits. The rate of this displacement reaction is greatest for small values of t(off) but decreases as t(off) becomes longer, suggesting that a copper-rich layer forms on the electrodeposits that blocks the displacement reaction. The displacement reaction can be minimized by lowering the Cu+ concentration at the electrode surface through the application of a superimposed current during t(off), whose magnitude is comparable to that of the limiting current for Cu+.