Electro-Responsive Surface Composition and Kinetics of an Ionic Liquid in a Polar Oil.

The quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) has been used to study how the interfacial layer of an ionic liquid dissolved in a polar oil at low weight percentages responds to changes in applied potential. The changes in surface composition at the QCM gold surface depend on both the magnitude and sign of the applied potential. The time-resolved response indicates that the relaxation kinetics are limited by the diffusion of ions in the interfacial region and not in the bulk, since there is no concentration dependence. The measured mass changes cannot be explained only in terms of simple ion exchange; the relative molecular volumes of the ions and the density changes in response to ion exclusion must be considered. The relaxation behavior of the potential between the electrodes upon disconnecting the applied potential is more complex than that observed for pure ionic liquids, but a measure of the surface charge can be extracted from the exponential decay when the rapid initial potential drop is accounted for. The adsorbed film at the gold surface consists predominantly of ionic liquid despite the low concentration, which is unsurprising given the surtactant-like structures of (some of) the ionic liquid ions. Changes in response to potential correspond to changes in the relative numbers of cations and anions, rather than a change in the oil composition. No evidence for an electric field induced change in viscosity is observed. This work shows conclusively that electric potentials can be used to control the surface composition, even in an oil-based system, and paves the way for other ion solvent studies.

Acceleration of diffusion in ethylammonium nitrate ionic liquid confined between parallel glass plates.

Diffusion of EAN confined between polar glass plates separated by a few micrometers is higher by a factor of ca. 2 as compared to bulk values. Formation of a new phase, different to the bulk, was suggested.

Is the boundary layer of an ionic liquid equally lubricating at higher temperature?

Atomic force microscopy has been used to study the effect of temperature on normal forces and friction for the room temperature ionic liquid (IL) ethylammonium nitrate (EAN), confined between mica and a silica colloid probe at 25 °C, 50 °C, and 80 °C. Force curves revealed a strong fluid dynamic influence at room temperature, which was greatly reduced at elevated temperatures due to the reduced liquid viscosity. A fluid dynamic analysis reveals that bulk viscosity is manifested at large separation but that EAN displays a nonzero slip, indicating a region of different viscosity near the surface. At high temperatures, the reduction in fluid dynamic force reveals step-like force curves, similar to those found at room temperature using much lower scan rates. The ionic liquid boundary layer remains adsorbed to the solid surface even at high temperature, which provides a mechanism for lubrication when fluid dynamic lubrication is strongly reduced. The friction data reveals a decrease in absolute friction force with increasing temperature, which is associated with increased thermal motion and reduced viscosity of the near surface layers but, consistent with the normal force data, boundary layer lubrication was unaffected. The implications for ILs as lubricants are discussed in terms of the behaviour of this well characterised system.

Weighing the surface charge of an ionic liquid.

Electrochemical quartz crystal microbalance has been used to measure changes in the composition of the capacitive electrical double layer for 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium tris(pentafluoroethyl)-trifluorophosphate, an ionic liquid, in contact with a gold electrode surface as a function of potential. The mass difference between the cation and anion means that the technique can effectively "weigh" the surface charge accurately with high temporal resolution. This reveals quantitatively how changing the potential alters the ratio of cations and anions associated with the electrode surface, and thus the charge per unit area, as well as the kinetics associated with these interfacial processes. The measurements reveal that it is diffusion of co-ions into the interfacial region rather than expulsion of counterions that controls the relaxation. The measured potential dependent double layer capacitance experimentally validates recent theoretical predictions for counterion overscreening (low potentials) and crowding (high potentials) at electrode surfaces. This new capacity to quantitatively measure ion composition is critical for ionic liquid applications ranging from batteries, capacitors and electrodeposition through to boundary layer structure in tribology, and more broadly provides new insight into interfacial processes in concentrated electrolyte solutions.