Electrodeposition of gold thin films from 1-butyl-1-methylpyrrolidinium dicyanamide Au3+ solutions

The electrodeposition of gold from a HAuCl4.3H2O solution in 1-butyl-1-methyl-pyrrolidinium dicyanamide is reported in the present paper. A cyclic voltammetry study of the electrochemical behaviour of the plating solution showed that the reduction of gold occurs by a two-step process. Gold thin films were obtained by electrodeposition on nickel substrates under potentiostatic control at a constant potential of − 1 V, for temperatures from 293 to 353 K and deposition times of 1500 and 4500 s. The films prepared at 293 and 333 K consist of 9–15 nm diameter polyhedral particles aggregated in clusters 50–250 nm in diameter. The films deposited at 353 K consist of a quasi-continuous film of nanoparticles covered by nanosized dendrites. This morphology evolves towards a globular structure with increasing deposition time.