Tuneable interphase transitions in ionic liquid/carrier systems via voltage controlShow others and affiliations
2023 (English)In: Journal of Colloid and Interface Science, ISSN 0021-9797, E-ISSN 1095-7103, Vol. 652, p. 1240-1249Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]
The structure and interaction of ionic liquids (ILs) influence their interfacial composition, and their arrangement (i.e., electric double-layer (EDL) structure), can be controlled by an electric field. Here, we employed a quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) to study the electrical response of two non-halogenated phosphonium orthoborate ILs, dissolved in a polar solvent at the interface. The response is influenced by the applied voltage, the structure of the ions, and the solvent polarizability. One IL showed anomalous electro-responsivity, suggesting a self-assembly bilayer structure of the IL cation at the gold interface, which transitions to a typical EDL structure at higher positive potential. Neutron reflectivity (NR) confirmed this interfacial structuring and compositional changes at the electrified gold surface. A cation-dominated self-assembly structure is observed for negative and neutral voltages, which abruptly transitions to an anion-rich interfacial layer at positive voltages. An interphase transition explains the electro-responsive behaviour of self-assembling IL/carrier systems, pertinent for ILs in advanced tribological and electrochemical contexts.
Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Elsevier, 2023. Vol. 652, p. 1240-1249
National Category
Physical Chemistry
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:ri:diva-66691DOI: 10.1016/j.jcis.2023.08.111OAI: oai:DiVA.org:ri-66691DiVA, id: diva2:1794289
Note
The authors thank the ILL for providing neutron beam time on SuperADAM (doi:10.5291/ILL-DATA.9-13-1006). The Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation (Project No. KAW2012.0078), the Swedish Research Council, VR (Project No. 2017-04080) and the Swedish Foundation for Strategic Research (Project No. EM16-0013, “REFIT”) are acknowledged for their financial support.
2023-09-052023-09-052023-09-05Bibliographically approved