In the last two decades ionic liquids have evolved to be good electrolytes for the electrodeposition of metals and semiconductors, primarily due to their large electrochemical windows of up to ± 3V. However, only in the last couple of years significant interest in using electrodeposited materials from ionic liquids for applications in batteries has evolved, showing promising and versatile routes for electrode material synthesis.

In this lecture we will give an overview on the electrodeposition of metals such as Al, Zn [1, 2] and semiconductors such as Si, Ge [3, 4] from ionic liquids which have been applied to different metal-ion batteries. In the case of metals such as Zn, we will show how the addition of dopant salts and ionic liquid mixtures makes it possible to inhibit the formation of dendrites during Zn deposition/stripping. Also, electrodeposition of various silicon and germanium macroporous structures as well as nanotubes which have been used as anodes in Li-ion batteries will be shown [5, 6].

Lastly, we will give an insight into the less investigated subject of electroless deposition in ionic liquids [3, 7] and how it can be used to develop battery electrodes as well as to modify Si and Ge deposits for battery applications.

References

1. S. Zein El Abedin, A. Garsuch, F. Endres, Aus. J. Chem., 2012, 65, 1529-1533
2. Z. Liu, T. Cui, G. Pulletikurthi, A. Lahiri, T. Carstens, M. Olschewski, F. Endres, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., 2016, 55, 2889-2893
3. A. Lahiri, T. Lu, N. Behrens, N. Borisenko, G. Li, F. Endres, ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces., 2017, 9, 11350-11355
4. A. Lahiri, G. Li, M. Olschewski, F. Endres, ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces., 2016, 8, 34143-34150
5. A. Lahiri, A. Willert, S. Zein El Abedin, F. Endres, Electrochim. Acta., 2014, 121, 154-158
6. X. Liu, J. Hao, X. Liu, C. Chi, F. Endres, Y. Zhang, Y. Li, J. Zhao, Chem. Commun., 2015, 51, 2064-2067
7. A. Lahiri, M. Olschewski, R. Gustus, N. Borisenko, F. Endres, Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys, 2016, 18, 14782-14786