Based Ionic Liquid Functional Materials and Their Application to Electroanalytical Chemistry

Imidazolium-Based Ionic Liquid Functional Materials and Their Application to Electroanalytical Chemistry 

Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changchun 130022, P. R China lniu(5)ciac.jl.cn 

Ionic liquids (ILs) are low-melting-point salts, thus forming liquids that consist only of cations and anions. They are often applied to any compounds that have a melting point less than 100°C. The first useful IL, ethylammonium nitrate, described by Walden, seems to have generated little interest it was not until the 1980s that the physical and chemical properties of this salt were investigated [1]. This was followed by the discovery that several tetraalkylammonium salts form air- and moisture-stable ILs of 

Electrochemical Nanofabrication Principles and Applications (Second Edition) Edited by Dl Wei 

In addition, ILs could also be used as both solvent and electrolyte for the electrodeposition of copper [35, 36], aluminum [37, 38], tantalum [4], platinum [39], silver [40, 41], gold [40-42], and silicon [43]. For example, Endres et al. have reported the electrodeposition of nanocrystalline metals and alloys, such as aluminum from ILs, which previously could not be electrodeposited from aqueous or organic solutions. This method enabled the synthesis of aluminum nanocrystals with average grain sizes of about 10 nm, Al-Mn alloys, as well as Fe and Pd nanocrystals [4] [as shown in Fig. 4.2). 

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