Electrodeposition of copper metal from the 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium fluoride ([EMIM]F)-urea-H2O system containing Cu2O

Abstract

In this work, [EMIM]F-urea-H2O system is capable of dissolving Cu2O, and then the metallic copper was electrodeposited from this system at room temperature. The reduction of Cu (I) in this system involves a quasi-reversible and one-step single-electron transfer process. The electrodeposition of copper was performed on a tungsten (W) substrate at −0.67 V (vs. Ag) and 353 K via potentiostatic electrolysis. The electrodeposits were identified as metallic copper, as verified by XRD and EDS. SEM image shows that uniform, polygonal nanoparticles of copper were obtained after the potentiostatic static electrolysis.