German scientists develop electrochemical method to coat fusion reactors with pure tungsten

German researchers from Max Planck IPP and IoLiTec developed an electrochemical process to deposit pure tungsten coatings.

The method uses anhydrous electrolytes based on ionic liquids and organic solvents to enable tungsten deposition.

Thin tungsten layers are intended to protect fusion reactor first walls that face extreme heat and particle loads.

Coating avoids the cost and difficulty of making entire components from rare, hard-to-process tungsten.