Electrochemical quartz crystal microbalance study of Si electrodeposition in ionic liquid

The electrodeposition of silicon from silicon tetrachloride in the hydrophobic room temperature ionic liquid trimethyl-n-hexyl ammonium bis-(trifluoromethylsulfonyl) imide was investigated by cyclic voltammetry and chronoamperometry. In situ electrochemical quartz crystal microbalance (EQCM) impedance spectroscopy was used to estimate the mass of films during deposition. The charge efficiency estimated from EQCM measurements is ∼190-250% for four-electron silicon reduction. However, compositional analysis by XPS shows that the EQCM current efficiency estimates are artificially high due to ionic liquid inclusion in the films. Taking the mass concentration of impurities into account, the best-case estimate of current efficiency is found to be approximately 130% for constant potential deposition, suggesting silicon may not have been completely reduced at the potentials investigated, or a chemical reaction step occurs. We also consider that the EQCM analysis may include too many deviations from assumptions for accurate estimation of mass with the conditions studied.