Recent progress on electrodeposition of metal/alloy films or coatings in deep eutectic solvents

The development of low-energy consumption and environmentally friendly electrodeposition of metal/alloy films or coatings is presently one of the primary topics for the research community. For this purpose, deep eutectic solvents (DESs) are valued as electrolytes for their advantages of low operating temperature and wide electrochemical windows. At present, there is large amount of literature on this emerging field, but there are no specialized reviews of these studies. Here, after a brief introduction of DESs’ concept and history, we comprehensively reviewed the lastest progress on the metal/alloy electrodeposition in DESs. Additionally, we discussed the key influence factors of the electrodeposition process and analyzedthe corresponding mechanisms. Based on these, we emphasized the importance of the establishment of predictive models for dealing with the challenges in large-scale applications.