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H2020Individual fellowship2020–2023

INHALE · Investigation of Halide Free Ionic Liquids for the Electrodeposition of Zinc and Zinc Alloys

Horizon 2020 — Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions

Duration
2020-10-26 → 2023-09-14
EU contribution
€224,934
Participants
1
Scheme
MSCA-IF

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Results in brief

Investigation of Halide Free Ionic Liquids for the Electrodeposition of Zinc and Zinc Alloys

Metallic zinc coatings play a crucial role in various industries, particularly in transportation. Electroplated zinc and zinc-alloy coatings are widely used for corrosion resistance in mechanical components, such as fasteners and brake calipers. Traditional aqueous solutions for zinc electrodeposition are toxic, corrosive, and induce hydrogen embrittlement. The INHALE project addresses these challenges, aiming to develop environmentally responsible halide-free ionic liquids (ILs), deep eutectic solvents (DESs), and organic solutions as electrolytes for corrosion-resistant coatings. The project's objectives encompass screening protic ionic liquids and metal precursors, investigating deposition conditions, characterizing electrodeposited coatings, understanding deposition mechanisms, and validating electrolyte and plating performance. By systematically evaluating candidate solvent systems, including Chloride–DES and HF-based non-aqueous electrolytes, the project successfully developed more environmentally responsible halide-free electrolytes. Coatings prepared with these solvents exhibit functionality comparable to conventional approaches. The project demonstrates scale-up potential and includes a preliminary techno-economic assessment. Overall, INHALE significantly contributes to the advancement of non-aqueous electrodeposition for zinc and zinc-alloy coatings, addressing environmental concerns and advancing coating application methods using environmentally responsible non-aqueous electrolytes.

Data: CORDIS, © European Union

Project objective

Europe is one of the largest markets for fasteners and automotive sector in the world. About 4% of the gross national product of the EU is destroyed by corrosion. About 25% of this could be avoided by protecting the surface. Typically, pure zinc or zinc alloys are used as cathodic corrosion protection layers due to its sacrificial property. INHALE project will focus on the development of efficient, low toxicity and environmentally friendly halide-free ionic liquids as electrolytes for the electrodeposition of zinc and zinc alloys, used for corrosion resistant coatings applications and address the problem of reducing the material usage by employing light weight structures. The aspects investigated are the electrochemical behaviour of the metals ions, the coating properties (thickness, morphology, quality, corrosion resistance), the effect of the electrolyte conditions (pH, concentration, temperature, conductivity, viscosity ), electrolyte components (cations, anions, metal salts, water content) on the electrodeposition of zinc and zinc-based alloys (containing Ni, Co, Fe etc.). The conductivity of plating bath will be correlated with the current eciency, deposition rate and morphology of the coatings. Influence of the water content on the Ni, Co, Fe content, current eciency, surface morphology, phase structure and corrosion resistance of Zn alloy coating shall be investigated in detail. The effects of viscosity, conductivity and electrochemical window of the ionic liquids (ILs) will be studied in relation to the water content in ILs and nucleation, growth process of the electrodeposited Zn, Zn based alloys. Finally the performance and stability of the halide-free ionic liquid based electrolyte towards improving the plating efficiency shall be validated by carrying out the throughput studies of zinc-based coatings in a 25-30 L plating bath (prepared using the novel, halide-free ionic liquid) and compared with aqueous solution based system.

Original text from CORDIS.

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Data: CORDIS, © European Union