Galvanostatic electrodeposition of aluminium nano-rods for Li-ion three-dimensional micro-battery current collectors

Constant current and pulsed current electrodeposition of aluminium nano-rods, for use as three-dimensional (3D) Li-ion micro-battery current collectors, have been studied using an ionic liquid electrolyte (1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride/aluminium chloride) and a template consisting of a commercial alumina membrane. It is shown that the homogeneity of the height of the rods can be improved significantly by inclusion of a short (i.e. 50 ms) potential pulse prior to the controlled current deposition step. The latter potential step increased the number of aluminium nuclei on the aluminium substrate and the best results were obtained for a potential of −0.9 V vs. Al/Al3+. The obtained nanostructured surfaces, which were characterized using electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction, consisted of parallel aligned aluminium nano-rods homogeneously distributed over the entire surface of the substrate. A narrower height distribution for the rods was obtained using a pulsed galvanostatic approach then when using a constant current, most likely due to the less favourable diffusion conditions in the latter case. The results also indicate that depletion and iR drop effects within the nano-pores result in a more homogeneous height distribution. It is concluded that the height distribution of the nano-rods is controlled by a combination of the nucleation probability in each pore at the start of the experiment, and the homogeneity of the diameters of the pores within the commercial alumina membranes employed as the electrodeposition template.

Research highlights
► Galvanostatic electrodeposition of aluminium nano-rods.
► Electrodeposition in ionic liquid electrolyte.
► Commercial alumina membrane used as template.
► Current pulses allow better diffusion into the pores of the membrane.
► Short nucleation potential pulses result in improved homogeneity of the deposit.