(Keynote Address) Developing Industrial Applications of Pulse Electrolytic Processes
Authors: Taylor Earl Jennings 
Published: February 2024

I founded Faraday Technology, Inc. in 1991 to conduct research and development directed towards novel electrochemical technologies for improved electrodeposition processes. The resulting innovations were patented and commercialized/transitioned to industrial/governmental partners via patent licenses or patent sales. The initial start-up funding was predominately from the U.S. Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) or Small Business technology Transfer (STTR) programs. After initial feasibility demonstration and validation, the patented technologies were adapted to specific client needs with client funding for the option to license or acquire.

In order to avoid the “feast or famine” associated Principal Investigator centric contract R&D firms, Faraday’s business model was based on a well-defined technology platform with applications in numerous markets and therefore amenable to multiple sources of funding. This business model emphasizes “strategic proposal development” based on exploring applications of the technology platform with team proposal conceptualization/writing and is used by the DOE as an instructional video for start-up companies.[1] The technology platform was pulse/pulse reverse current (P/PRC) electrolysis. Since the founding of Faraday. The pulse/pulse reverse technology platform has resulted in 129 patents and patent applications directed towards industrial markets including automotive, medical, energy, electronics and applications including electrodeposition, surface finishing and chemical conversions.

The concept of P/PRC plating is not new and was first reported at least in the early part of the nineteenth century.[2] The guiding principles of P/PRC plating were presented in 1986 in a classic compendium.[3] A more recent treatise was published in 2012.[4] Many of the studies directed towards practical applications of P/PRC plating used the existing plating baths containing chemical additions optimized for DC plating. In developing practical applications of P/PRC plating, two questions were critical to Faraday’s vision:

Are the plating bath additives optimized for direct current plating optimum for P/PRC plating?

Assuming the answer is “no”, can P/PRC plating enable simpler plating baths with low or no chemical additives?

Consequently, Faraday’s initial founding vision was to:

“...change the focus of electrodeposition processes from the use of electrolytes with multicomponent chemical additions to the use of simpler electrolytes enabled by pulse current/pulse reverse current electric fields...”

With the successful development of plating processes devoid of chemical additives, this vision evolved to include P/PRC anodic dissolution or surface finishing processes such as deburring, electrochemical machining, electropolishing and electrochemical through-mask etching. This broadening of the vision was based on observations and speculations that the lessons learned from cathodic P/PRC electrodeposition processes could be adapted to anodic pulse/pulse reverse surface finishing processes. Consequently, Faraday’s current vision is broadened to:

“...change the focus of electrochemical manufacturing/engineering processes from the use of electrolytes with multicomponent chemical additions to the use of simpler electrolytes enabled by pulse current/pulse reverse current electric fields...”

This evolving vision has led to numerous innovations in industrial surface finishing[5] and sustainable[6] industrial processes. Some of these innovations based on P/PRC have been recognized with awards including 1) the Blum Scientific Achievement Award from the National Association for Surface Finishing for “...outstanding scientific contributions which have advanced the theory and practice of electroplating, metal finishing and allied arts”, 2) a 2011 R&D 100 award for electrodeposition of cobalt manganese alloys for solid oxide fuel cell interconnects, 3) a 2013 Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge award for deposition of functional chromium from a trivalent chromium plating bath, 4) a 2016 R&D 100 finalist award for electropolishing of materials in low viscosity electrolytes devoid of hydrofluoric acid, and 5) the 2020 New Electrochemical Technology award from the IE&EE division for electropolishing of niobium superconducting devices for high energy physics applications.

I will provide an overview of Faraday’s P/PRC innovations, some of which are recently summarized.[7] I will conclude with some thoughts on additional applications of P/PRC processes such as chemical conversions and high-rate electrowinning.

I acknowledgeMaria Inman, Tim Hall and my many colleagues, past and present at Faraday as well as Faraday’s many collaborators and sources of funding.

See https://science.osti.gov/SBIRLearning/Faraday-Technology-Inc

J. Gillis, U.S. Patent No. 1,260,661 issued March 26, 1918.

J.C. Puippe and F. Leaman, Eds., Theory and Practice of Pulse Plating, AESF, Orlando, FL, (1986).

W. E. G. Hansel and S. Roy, Pulse Plating, Leuze Verlag KG, Germany (2012).

E. J. Taylor and M. E. Inman, Electrochem. Soc. Interface Fall 23 57 (2014).

T. D. Hall, M. E. Inman, and E. J. Taylor, Electrochem. Soc.
Interface
29 49 (2020).

7. J. Taylor et al in Advances in Electrochemical Science & Engineering: The Path from Discovery to Product, R. C. Alkire et al., Editors, p. 193-240, Wiley-VCH, New York (2018).