Electrodeposition of crystalline silicon directly from silicon tetrachloride in ionic liquid at low temperature

Crystalline silicon (Si) is widely used in modern electronics. Si is commonly produced through a series of energy-intensive reactions (>700 °C). It is thus urgent and significant to explore more economically and environmentally-benign synthetic strategies for crystalline Si at low temperature. In this contribution, we report an efficient method to prepare crystalline Si from silicon tetrachloride at the low temperature of 100 °C with an ionic liquid (IL) as electrolyte. Physicochemical characterization revealed that as-deposited crystalline Si with a diamond cubic crystal structure exhibited a dominant (111)-orientation. Moreover, in-depth insights into the growth mechanism of crystalline Si was shed light upon herein. Furthermore, the smart electrodepositing platform of crystalline Si from ILs would open up a new avenue for low-temperature metallurgy of Si.