PCCP's latest 10th Anniversary Article is a paper by Frank Endres and colleagues about the electrodeposition of Ge, Si and Si_xGe_1-x from an air- and water-stable ionic liquid. 

Frank Endres is professor of interface processes at the Clausthal University of Technology in Clausthal-Zellerfeld, Germany. He has been publishing with PCCP since its first volume, and cites the fast and professional reviewing process as one of the reasons he chooses the journal. In 2006, Endres published a review article in PCCP on 'Air and water stable ionic liquids in physical chemistry', which, according to the latest information from ISI Web of Science, has so far received over 100 citations. This makes the article one of PCCP's top 10 most highly cited articles of all time. 

His latest PCCP article describes the electrodeposition of Si_xGe_1-x from ionic liquids. 'Due to a quantum size effect the material with individual particle sizes from 2 - 20 nm shows a direct semiconducting behaviour with energy gaps ranging from at least 1.5 to 3.2 eV. Apart from the first evidence for an electrochemically made luminescent semiconductor from ionic liquids these results might also be of interest for the fabrication of solar cells,' explained Endres. 

Endres and colleagues are convinced that air- and water-stable ionic liquids have an unprecedented potential not only in metal but also in semiconductor electrodeposition. 'Our paper also contradicts the often mentioned reproach that electrochemistry would not be pure enough for the synthesis of semiconductors,' they conclude.