{
  "abstract": "Aqueous iron electrodeposition is an attractive route to enabling lower temperature, more modular ironmaking compared to conventional blast furnaces, but existing approaches require extreme pH, elevated temperatures and exhibit low Faradaic efficiency (FE) at elevated current density. A central challenge is the lack of design rules linking electrolyte chemistry to Fe2+ stability, FE and deposit purity. Here we demonstrate that pH-dependent electrolyte stability follows a volcano-type dependence on ligand functional group chemistry that is governed by a competition between metal–ligand complexation and ligand–solvent interactions. We determine α/β-hydroxycarboxylates optimize this balance and identify glycolate as a highly efficient coordinating ligand – enabling dense, ~99% pure iron deposits with >90% FE at thicknesses >100 μm and current densities approaching 1 A cm-2 under benign operating conditions (25ºC and pH 3.5). More broadly, these molecular design principles provide a framework for aqueous electrolyte development that should be transferrable to other electrochemical metal production processes.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [
    "Center for Steel Electrification by Electrosynthesis (C-STEEL",
    "Argonne National Laboratory",
    "Materials Science Division",
    "University of Illinois Chicago",
    "Chemical Sciences Division",
    "Oak Ridge National Laboratory",
    "Northern Illinois University",
    "Applied Materials Division",
    "Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering",
    "University of Chicago",
    "Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University"
  ],
  "article_type": null,
  "arxiv": null,
  "author_total": 12,
  "authors": [
    {
      "affs": [
        0,
        1,
        2
      ],
      "name": "Jiang Luo"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0,
        1,
        3
      ],
      "name": "Shivam Singh"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0,
        1,
        4,
        5
      ],
      "name": "Yawei Gao"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0,
        1,
        6
      ],
      "name": "Huong Nguyen"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0,
        1,
        3,
        7
      ],
      "name": "Saurabh N. Misal"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0,
        1,
        6
      ],
      "name": "Xingyi Lyu"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0,
        1,
        2,
        8,
        9
      ],
      "name": "Benjamin Ketter"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0,
        1,
        7
      ],
      "name": "Donghyeon Kang"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0,
        1,
        4,
        5
      ],
      "name": "Lei Cheng"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0,
        1,
        6,
        10
      ],
      "name": "Tao Li"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0,
        1,
        2,
        3
      ],
      "name": "Jordi Cabana"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0,
        1,
        2,
        8,
        9
      ],
      "name": "Justin G. Connell",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-2979-2131"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/9a7ppvhc5ts2e.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.26434/chemrxiv.15010003/v1",
  "fulltext_url": null,
  "id": "9a7ppvhc5ts2e",
  "issns": [],
  "landing_url": "https://chemrxiv.org/doi/full/10.26434/chemrxiv.15010003/v1",
  "language": null,
  "licence": "CC-BY",
  "licence_label": "CC BY",
  "licence_source": "journal",
  "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": null,
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "openalex",
      "2208|Electrodeposition and Electroless Coatings"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": "W7220859553",
  "pdf_url": "https://chemrxiv.org/doi/pdf/10.26434/chemrxiv.15010003/v1",
  "pmcid": null,
  "pmid": null,
  "published": "2026-10-06",
  "publisher": "American Chemical Society (ACS)",
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/9a7ppvhc5ts2e.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-30T12:17:22Z",
      "native_id": "10.26434/chemrxiv.15010003",
      "source": "chemrxiv",
      "url": "https://chemrxiv.org/doi/full/10.26434/chemrxiv.15010003/v1"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "chemistry",
      "origin": "source:chemrxiv",
      "subfield": "general"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Ligand Design Principles Enabling High Efficiency Aqueous Iron Electrodeposition at Ambient Temperature",
  "title_text": "Ligand Design Principles Enabling High Efficiency Aqueous Iron Electrodeposition at Ambient Temperature",
  "type": "preprint",
  "updated_at": "2026-10-30T12:17:22Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/9a7ppvhc5ts2e",
  "venue": "ChemRxiv",
  "versions": []
}