Ionic liquids based on the imidazolium cation in platinum and titanium electropolishing.

For the first time, the anodic behavior of platinum and titanium in ionic liquids (ILs) based on the imidazolium cation was investigated. ILs were established to possess a set of advantages compared with the traditional sulfuric acid electrolytes. It isn't necessary to maintain both a particular temperature and to use environmentally-harmful reagents, such as methanol or hydrofluoric acid, when electropolishing metals in IL media. The addition of propylene glycol to BMImCl (1 : 1) results in the formation of layers of titanium dioxide nanotubes on the metal surface. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]