The instructor at Faculty of Science / University of Kerbala, Dr. Hasan Faisal Nehme Alesary, has published his research which is entitled “Influence of different concentrations of nicotinic acid on the electrochemical fabrication of copper film from an ionic liquid based on the complexation of choline chloride-ethylene glycol” in Journal of Electroanalytical Chemistry, which is ranked globally.
The study has actively investigated the effects of nicotinic acid (NA) on the electrodeposition of copper in a choline chloride (ChCl)-ethylene glycol (EG)-based deep eutectic solvent (DES), (1ChCl:2EG), considered a “green solvent” due to its physiochemical properties.
A number of analytical techniques, in this instance cyclic voltammetry, chronoamperometry, and chronocoulometery, have been employed to determine the various electrochemical properties, nucleation mechanisms, and kinetics of the Cu species reported herein. The diffusion coefficient for the Ethaline-Cu system has been found to be affected by the concentration of NA.
An electrochemical quartz crystal microbalance (EQCM) is used to monitor the current efficiency of the copper deposition in both systems. The morphologies, thicknesses, roughnesses, and crystal structures of the copper electrodeposited from the NA-modified electrolyte were characterised via scanning electron microscopy (SEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM), and X-ray diffraction (XRD), which between them demonstrate that the NA introduced into this system acts as a highly effective brightener, producing highly uniform and smooth copper deposits.
