Ionic liquids are molten salts with melting points below 100 °C and they consist entirely of cations and anions. The development of ionic liquids, especially air and water stable types, has attracted extensive attention since they have outstanding physical properties. Part I of the study focused on the pre-electrolysis process performed to remove impurities from the ionic liquid, 1-butyl-1-methyl-pyrrolidinium bis(tri-fluoromethylsulfonyl)imide, ([BMP]Tf2N). Part II investigated the electroreduction of TaF5 and NbF5 from room temperature ionic liquid at 100 °C at a wide range of potentials and different time durations for the purpose of determining the optimal conditions for the electrodeposition of tantalum. The study was carried out using potentiostatic polarization for the pre-electrolysis treatments and electrodeposition and cyclic voltammetry to study the behaviour of the liquid at various stages. Potentiostatic depositions were complemented by scanning electron microscopy (SEM)/energy-dispersive x-ray analysis (EDX), x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and x-ray diffraction (XRD) for characterization of the electrodeposits.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:TORONTO/oai:tspace.library.utoronto.ca:1807/18156 |
| Date | 16 December 2009 |
| Creators | Barbato, Giuseppina |
| Contributors | Perovic, Doug, Newman, Roger C. |
| Source Sets | University of Toronto |
| Language | en_ca |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
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