Plating bath additives are essential for optimization of the morphology of electroplated layers. The ionic liquid 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium (EMIM) chloride plus 1.5 mol equivalents of AlCl3 has great potential for electroplating of aluminum. In this study, the chemical and electrochemical stability of the additives EMIM-nicotinate and sodium dodecyl sulfate and their effect on the stability of EMIM was investigated and analyzed. Nicotinate and its electrochemical decomposition product β-picoline could be detected and we show with a single HPLC-UV-MS method that EMIM is not affected by the decomposition of this additive. An adapted standard HPLC-UV-MS method together with GC-MS and ion chromatography was used to analyze the decomposition products of SDS and possible realkylation products of EMIM. Several volatile medium and short chain-length alkanes as well as sulfate ions have been found as decomposition products of SDS. Alkenium ions formed as intermediates during the decomposition of SDS realkylate EMIM to produce mono- up to pentasubstituted alkyl-imidazoles. A reaction pathway involving Wagner-Meerwein rearrangements and Friedel-Crafts alkylations has been suggested to account for the formation of the detected products.
Keywords: Additive; Aluminum electroplating; GC MS; HPLC MS; Ionic liquids.
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