“Chiralized” Cu and Ni Deposits Obtained Via Electroless Deposition
Authors: Fontanesi Claudio , Girimonte Aldo , Giovanardi Roberto , Martini Andrea , Giurlani Walter , Innocenti Massimo 
Published: November 2022

The study of physicochemical processes at chiral surfaces is a particularly intriguing field of science.1,2 Of course, a logical and natural extension is the study of the electrochemical behavior of a “chiral-electrode”|solution interface, which is the subject of rapidly growing scientific and applicative interest in electrochemistry.3–6 In physics (and biology too), the concept of chirality, and the relevant involvement of physical interactions ruling chiral-systems is fascinating field of science: Maxwell equations, light polarization to mention a few (in biology, the homochirality dilemma7). Besides the purely fascinating scientific aspects, in chemistry chirality means a concept able to rule asymmetric synthesis and enantioselectivity/enantio-recognition (sensors). Within the area of chirality, it was shown that chiral systems are able to interact selectively with spin-polarized electrons8 acting also as spin-filter: chiral induced spin-selectivity (CISS).9 As a rational development, the implementation of the chiral spin-selectivity in electrochemistry, lead to the so-called spin-dependent electrochemistry.10 Quite recently where surfaces functionalized with chiral molecules shown better charge transfer properties if compared with structurally similar achiral compounds.11 Moreover, “chiralized” (which means co-deposition with a chiral-inducer compound) electrodeposited nickel and electropolymerized aniline (PANI), showed both good enantioselectivity as well as spin filtering (magnetoresistance measurements) characteristics.12–14 In this paper we want to prepare “chiralized” metals by electroless co-deposition of a suitable metal (here Cu and Ni) with an enantiopure chiral molecule: asymmetry inducer. This aiming to deposit a chiral conductive (metallic and possibly ferromagnetic) surface on a non-conductive material, in view of applications in both energy (photovoltaic) and spintronics (spin-valve) applications. In general, electroless deposition of both Cu and Ni relies on the use of Pd salts (where the real “catalyst” are Pd metallic nanoparticles), this makes the electroless procedure quite expensive. At present, in our laboratory the electroless deposition of both Cu and Ni was successfully carried out using Ag nanoparticles as the catalyzer, Figure 1. Co-deposition in the presence of enantiopure organic compounds is under investigations.

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Figure 1