Electrodeposition of carbon films from various organic liquids

Carbon films have been deposited onto glass substrates coated with indium tin oxide in liquid acetonitrile, N,N-dimethylformamide, nitromethane, methanol, nitroethane, and ethanol by the liquid phase electrodeposition technique. The films were characterized by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and Raman spectroscopy. The film morphology was observed by scanning electron microscopy. The analysis of Raman spectra suggests that the structures of the deposited carbon films depend on nature of the depositing liquids. The films deposited from the liquids with higher dipole moment and dielectric constant (ε) contain more sp³ C and were more diamond like. The organic liquids containing methyl groups are superior precursors to those containing ethyl groups in the electrodeposition of carbon films.