Hydrogen bonds (HBs) play a crucial role in the physicochemical properties of ionic liquids (ILs). At present, HBs between cations and anions (Ca-An) or between cations (Ca-Ca) in ILs have been reported extensively. Here, we provided DFT evidences for the exists of HBs between anions (An-An) in the IL 1-(2-hydroxyethyl)-3-methylimidazolium 4-(2-hydroxyethyl)imidazolide [HEMIm][HEIm]. The thermodynamics stabilities of anionic, cationic, and H2O dimers together with ionic pairs were studied by potential energy scans. The results show that the cation-anion pair is the most stable one, while the HB in anionic dimer possesses similar thermodynamics stability to the water dimer. The further geometric, spectral and electronic structure analyses demonstrate that the inter-anionic HB meets the general theoretical criteria of traditional HBs. The strength order of four HBs in complexes is cation-anion pair > H2O dimer = cationic dimer > anionic dimer. The energy decomposition analysis indicates that induction and dispersion interactions are the crucial factors to overcome strong Coulomb repulsions, forming inter-anionic HBs. Lastly, the presence of inter-anionic HBs in ionic cluster has been confirmed by a global minimum search for a system containing two ionic pairs. Even though hydroxyl-functionalized cations are more likely to form HBs with anions, there still have inter-anionic HBs between hydroxyl groups in the low-lying structures. Our studies broaden the understanding of HBs in ionic liquids and support the recently proposed concept of anti-electrostatic HBs.
In this work, we report the results from molecular dynamics simulations of lithium salt-ionic liquid electrolytes (ILEs) based either on the symmetric bis[(trifluoromethyl)sulfonyl]imide ($\text{TFSI}^-$) anion or its asymmetric analog 2,2,2-(trifluoromethyl)sulfonyl-N-cyanoamide ($\text{TFSAM}^-$). Relating lithium's coordination environment to anion mean residence times and diffusion constants confirms the remarkable transport behaviour of the $\text{TFSAM}^-$-based ILEs that has been observed in recent experiments: For increased salt doping, the lithium ions must compete for the more attrac…
Three imidazolium-based ionic liquids of the type [Cnmim][NTf2] with varying alkyl chain lengths (n = 1, 2 and 8) at the 1 position of the imidazolium ring were studied applying IR, linear Raman, and multiplex CARS spectroscopy. The focus has been on the CH-stretching region of the imidazolium ring, which is supposed to carry information about a possible hydrogen bonding network in the ionic liquid. The measurements are compared to calculations of the corresponding anharmonic vibrational spectra for a cluster of [C2mim][NTf2] consisting of four ion pairs. The results support the hypothesis of …
The fundamental understanding of intermolecular interactions of ionic liquids with water represents a vital extent in predicting ionic liquid properties. Intermolecular or noncovalent interactions were studied for 1,3-dimethyl imidazolium [DMIM]+ cation and nitrate [NO3]- anion with water, employing quantum mechanics (QM) and molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. Extensive electronic structure calculations were performed first for molecular dimers, using various levels of theory and basis sets to pinpoint dimer optimized geometries and estimate binding energies in the gas phase. Many calculatio…
Hydrogen bonding is a phenomenon of paramount importance in room-temperature ionic liquids. The presence or absence of the hydrogen bond drastically alternates self-diffusion, shear viscosity, phase transition points, and other key properties of a pure substance. For certain applications, the presence of cation-anion hydrogen bonding is undesirable. In the present paper, we investigate perspectives of removing the hydrogen...fluorine interionic attraction in the imidazolium borates, the strongest non-covalent interaction in this type of system. Chemical modification of the tetrafluoroborate an…
Room temperature ionic liquids (ILs) at solid surfaces have been recognized for their significant interfacial properties in electrochemical and electronic devices. To ascertain the interface effects, we investigate dynamical and structural properties of two ILs in nanoscale confinement at various temperatures. Specifically, we perform all-atom molecular dynamics simulations for ILs composed of 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium cations and hexafluorophosphate ([Bmim][PF6]) or tetrafluoroborate ([Bmim][BF4]) anions sandwiched between amorphous silica slabs. Density profiles of the ionic species across…
Spiroborate anions based inorganic electrolytes and ionic liquids (ILs) have fascinating electrochemical and tribological properties, and have received widespread attention in industrial applications. Molecular chiralities of spiroborate anions have a significant effect on microstructures and macroscopic functionalities of these ionic materials in applications, and thus deserve a fundamental understanding. In current work, we performed quantum chemistry calculations to address binding strength and coordination structures of chiral bis(mandelato)borate ([BMB]) anions with representative alkali …
The applicability of the density functional based tight binding (DFTB) method to the description of hydrogen bond dynamics and infrared spectroscopy is addressed for the exemplary protic ionic liquid triethylammonium nitrate. Potential energy curves for proton transfer in gas and liquid phase are shown to be comparable to high level coupled cluster theory in the thermally accessible range of bond lengths. Geometric correlations in the hydrogen bond dynamics are analyzed for a cluster of six ion pairs. Comparing DFTB and regular DFT data lends further support for the reliability of the DFTB met…
Lithium salts with low coordinating anions like bis(trifluoromethanesulfonyl)imide (TFSI) have been the state-of-the-art for PEO-based 'dry' polymer electrolytes for three decades. Plasticizing PEO with TFSI-based ionic liquids (ILs) to form ternary solid polymer electrolytes (TSPEs) increases conductivity and Li$^+$ diffusivity. However, the Li$^+$ transport mechanism is unaffected compared to their 'dry' counterpart and essentially coupled to the dynamics of the polymer host matrix, which limits Li$^+$ transport improvement. Thus, a paradigm shift is hereby suggested: The utilization of more…
The properties of the hydrogen bonds in ethylammonium nitrate are analyzed by using molecular dynamics simulations and infrared as well as nuclear magnetic resonance experiments. Ethylammonium nitrate features a flexible three-dimensional network of hydrogen bonds with moderate strengths, which makes it distinct from related triethylammonium-based ionic liquids. First, the network's flexibility is manifested in a not very pronounced correlation of the hydrogen bond geometries, which is caused by rapid interchanges of bonding partners. The large flexibility of the network leads to a substantial…
We study ionic liquids composed 1-alkyl-3-methylimidazolium cations and bis(trifluoromethyl-sulfonyl)imide anions ([C$_n$MIm][NTf$_2$]) with varying chain-length $n\!=\!2, 4, 6, 8$ by using molecular dynamics simulations. We show that a reparametrization of the dihedral potentials as well as charges of the [NTf$_2$] anion leads to an improvment of the force field model introduced by Köddermann {\em et al.} [ChemPhysChem, \textbf{8}, 2464 (2007)] (KPL-force field). A crucial advantage of the new parameter set is that the minimum energy conformations of the anion ({\em trans} and {\em gauche}), …
We develop a simulation method which allows us to calculate the critical micelle concentrations for ionic surfactants in the presence of different salts. The results are in good agreement with the experimental data. The simulations are performed on a simple cubic lattice. The anionic interactions with the alkyl chains are taken into account based on the previously developed theory of the interfacial tensions of hydrophobic interfaces: the kosmotropic anions do not interact with the hydrocarbon tails of ionic surfactants, while chaotropic anions interact with the alkyl chains through a dispersi…
Twenty-five molecule-anion complex systems [I4Tt...X-] (Tt = C, Si, Ge, Sn and Pb; X = F, Cl, Br, I, At) were examined using density functional theory (wB97XD) and ab initio (MP2 and CCSD) methods to demonstrate the ability of the tetrel atoms in molecular entities, I4Tt, to recognize the halide anions when in close proximity. The tetrel bond strength for the [I4C...X-] series, and [I4Tt...X-] (Tt = Si, Sn; X = I, At), was weak-to-moderate, whereas that in the remaining 16 complexes was dative tetrel bond type with very large interaction energies and short Tt...X close contact distances. The b…
In concentrated solutions of NaClO4 and Na2SO4, the quantum yield for free electron generated by detachment from photoexcited anions (such as I-, OH-, ClO^4-, and [SO3]^2-) linearly decreases by 6-12% per 1 M ionic strength. In 9 M sodium perchlorate solution, this quantum yield decreases by roughly an order of magnitude. Ultrafast kinetic studies of 200 nm photon induced electron detachment from Br-, HO- and [SO3]^2- suggest that the prompt yield of thermalized electron does not change in these solutions; rather, the ionic strength effect originates in more efficient recombination of geminate…
Charge injection in terms of anions, cations, electrons, lone pairs, protons, and molecular dipoles by acid,base, salt and organic molecular solvation mediates the O:HO bonding network and properties of the solution through O:H formation, HH fragillization, O:=:O compression, electrostatic polarization, H2O dipolar shielding, and solute/solute interaction
A combined experimental/theoretical approach has been used to investigate the role of water in modifying the microscopic interactions characterizing the optical response of butyl-ammonium nitrate (BAN) water solutions. Raman spectra, dominated by the signal from the protic ionic liquid, were collected as a function of the water content, and the corresponding spatial organization of the ionic couples, as well as their local arrangement with water molecules, was studied exploiting classical molecular dynamics calculations. High quality spectroscopic data, combined with a careful analysis, reveal…
The radiation- and photo- chemistry of room temperature ionic liquids (ILs) composed of ammonium, phosphonium, pyrrolidinium, and imidazolium cations and bis(triflyl)amide, dicyanamide, and bis(oxalato)borate anions, have been studied using low-temperature Electron Paramagnetic Resonance (EPR). Several classes of radicals have been identified and related to reactions of the primary radiolytically generated electrons and holes. Large yields of terminal and penultimate C-centered radicals are observed in the aliphatic chains of the phosphonium, ammonium and pyrrolidinium cations, but not for imi…
Abstract. Ionic liquids (ILs) constitute an emerging field of research. New ILs are continuously introduced involving more and more organic and inorganic ions. Amino acid based ILs (AAILs) represent a specific interest due to their evolutional connection to proteins. We report a new non- polarizable force field (FF) for the eight AAILs comprising 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium cation and amino acid anions. The anions were obtained via deprotonation of carboxyl group. Specific cation-anion non-covalent interactions have been taken into account by computing electrostatic potential for ion pairs, in…
In recent years, impressive advances in harvesting renewable energy have led to pressing demand for the complimentary energy storage technology. Here, a high coulombic efficiency (~ 99.7%) Al battery is developed using earth-abundant aluminum as the anode, graphite as the cathode, and a cheap ionic liquid analogue electrolyte made from a mixture of AlCl3 and urea in 1.3 : 1 molar ratio. The battery displays discharge voltage plateaus around 1.9 V and 1.5 V (average discharge = 1.73 V) and yielded a specific cathode capacity of ~73 mAh g-1 at a current density of 100 mA g-1 (~ 1.4 C). High coul…
We developed a new physical model to predict macroscopic properties of inorganic molten systems using a realistic description of inter-atomic interactions. Unlike the conventional approach, which tends to overestimate viscosity by several times, our systems consist of a set of ions with an admixture of neutral atoms. The neutral atom subsystem is a consequence of the covalent/ionic state reduction, occurring in the liquid phase. Comparison of the calculated macroscopic properties (shear viscosity and self-diffusion constants) with the experiment demonstrates good performance of our model. The …
The route to super acidic ionic liquids by proton transfer from molecular super acids to weak molecular bases like pentafluoropyridine, has been described in recent work. Here we consider the process of making super basic ionic liquids by a similar procedure, and encounter the problem of finding molecular bases of high enough basicity to accept protons from weak acids to form ionic liquids of both high basicity and high iconicity. The consequence is that no ionic liquid with proton activity outside the aqueous base limit of pH =14, has yet been made. The problem is resolved by considering the …
Ionic liquids (ILs) constitute one of the most active fields of research nowadays. Many organic and inorganic molecules can be converted into ions via relatively simple procedures. These ions can be combined into ILs. Amino acid based ILs (AAILs) represent a specific interest due to solubilization of biological species, participation in enzymatic catalysis, and capturing toxic gases. We develop a new force field (FF) for the seven selected AAILs comprising 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium cation and amino acid anions with polar residues. The anions were obtained via deprotonation of carboxyl group.…
Charged cyclic polymers, e.g. cyclic DNAs and polypeptides, play enabling roles in organisms, but their synthesis was challenging due to the well known polyelectrolyte effect. To tackle the challenge, we developed a templated method to synthesize a library of imidazolium and pyridinium based cyclic poly(ionic liquid)s. Cyclic templates, cyclic polyimidazole and poly(2-pyridine), were synthesized first through ring-closure method by light-induced Diels-Alder click reaction. Through quaternization of cyclic templates followed by anion metathesis, the cyclic poly(ionic liquid)s were synthesized, …
Solvents comprise two thirds of all industrial emissions. Traditional organic solvents easily reach the atmosphere as they have high vapor pressure and are linked to a host of negative environmental effects including climate change, urban air-quality and human illness. Room temperature ionic liquids (RTIL), on the other hand, have low vapor pressure and are not flammable or explosive, thereby resulting in fewer environmental burdens and health hazards. However, their life cycle environmental impacts as well as freshwater ecotoxicity implications are poorly understood. RTILs are molten salts th…
Organic-inorganic hybrid perovskites are considered to be most promising photovoltaic materials. Highest efficiencies of perovskite solar cells have been achieved by using appropriate cation and anion mixtures. Mixed perovskite solar cells also show an improved stability. For both performance as well as stability, experimental information on electronic and ionic charge carriers is key, an information that so far has only been provided for methylammonium lead iodide; there we also found that light can enhance not only electronic but also ionic conductivities by more than one order of magnitude.…
Hydrogen bonding to chloride ions has been frequently discussed over the past 5 decades. Still, the possible role of such secondary intermolecular bonding interactions in hydrogen bonded networks has not been investigated in any detail. Here we consider computer models of concentrated aqueous LiCl solutions and compute usual hydrogen bond network characteristics, such as distributions of cluster sizes and of cyclic entities, both for models that take and do not take chloride ions into account. During the analysis of hydrogen bonded rings, a significant amount of 'solvent separated anion pairs'…
Ionic liquids (ILs) are an emerging group of chemical compounds which possess promising properties such as having negligible vapor pressure. These so called designer solvents have the potential to replace volatile organic compounds in industrial applications. A large number of ILs, through the combination of different cations and anions, can potentially be synthesized. In this context, it will be useful to intelligently design customized ILs through computer-aided methods. Practical limitations dictate that any successful attempt to design new ILs for industrial applications requires the abili…
Using molecular dynamics simulations, the structure of model mini-protein was thoroughly characterized in the imidazolium-based amino acid ionic liquids and their aqueous solutions. We report that the mini-protein is more stable when AAIL is added as a cosolvent. Complete substitution of water by organic cations and anions further results in hindered conformational flexibility of the mini-protein. This observation suggests that AAILs are able to defend proteins from thermally induced denaturation. We show by means of radial distributions that the mini-protein is efficiently solvated by both so…
Two-dimensional ionic liquids with single site anion and cation-neutral dimer are studied by computer simulations and integral equation techniques, with the aim of characterizing differences with single site anion-cation mixtures, and also with three dimensional equivalents of both models, in order to see the competition between the Coulomb interactions and the clustering restrictions due to reduced dimension. We find that the addition of the neutral site to the cation suppresses the liquid-gas transition which occurs in the case of the monomeric Coulomb system. Instead, bilayer membrane type …
Reliable force field (FF) is a central issue in successful prediction of physical chemical properties via computer simulations. Together with the original CL-P parameters, our force field fosters computational investigation of ionic liquids. In addition, the reported results shed more light on the chemical nature of cation-anion binding in various families of RTILs.
The numerous combinations of cations and anions turn out possible to produce ionic liquids with fine-tuned properties once the correlation with the molecular structure is known. In this sense, computer simulations are useful tools to explain and even to predict properties of ionic liquids. However, quantum mechanical methods are usually restricted to either small clusters or short timescales, so that the use of parametrized force fields is needed for studying the bulk liquids. A method is proposed in this work to enable a comparison between quantum mechanical and both polarizable and non-polar…
Comparative molecular dynamics simulations of a hexamer cluster of the protic ionic liquid ethylammonium nitrate are performed using density functional theory (DFT) and density functional-based tight binding (DFTB) methods. The focus is on assessing the performance of the DFTB approach to describe the dynamics and infrared spectroscopic signatures of hydrogen bonding between the ions. Average geometries and geometric correlations are found to be rather similar. The same holds true for the far-infrared spectral region. Differences are more pronounced for the NH- and CH-stretching band, where DF…
We present a theoretical study of the influence of the molecular geometry of the cation on the response of ionic liquid (IL) to confinement and mechanical strain. The so-called {\it tailed} model includes a large spherical anion and asymmetric cation consisting of a charged head and neutral tail. Despite its simplicity, this model recovers a wide range of structures seen in IL: simple cubic lattice for the small tails, liquid-like state for symmetric cation-tail dimers, and molecular layer structure for dimers with large tails. A mutual feature of all investigated model ILs is a formation of t…
Global warming is seen as a drastic environmental problem nowadays. Carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) concentration in the Earth's atmosphere is linked to the average temperature on the surface of the planet. Carbon capture and storage is an important technological endeavor aiming to improve the ecology. The present work investigates reaction paths that are responsible for CO 2 chemisorption by the ammonium- and phosphonium-based ionic liquids containing an aprotic heterocyclic anion 2-cyanopyrrolidine. We show that two moles of CO 2 per one mole of the gas scavenger can be theoretically fixed by such io…
We use molecular dynamics simulation to study the exfoliation of graphene and fluorographene in molecular and ionic liquids, by performing computer experiments in which one layer of the 2D nanomaterial is peeled from a stack, in vacuum and in the presence of solvent. The liquid media and the nanomaterials are represented by fully flexible, atomistic force fields. From these simulations we calculate the potential of mean force, or reversible work, required to exfoliate the materials. Calculations in water and organic liquids showed that small amides (NMP, DMF) are among the best solvents for ex…
This work shows that bulk ionic liquids (ILs) and their water solution can be conveniently investigated by synchrotron-based UV resonance Raman (UVRR) spectroscopy. The main advantages of this technique for the investigation of the local structure and intermolecular interactions in imidazolium-based ILs are presented and discussed. The unique tunability of synchrotron source allows one to selectively enhance in the Raman spectra the vibrational signals arising from the imidazolium ring. Such signals showed good sensitivity to the modifications induced in the local structure of ILs by i) the ch…
Extraction of hydrofluoric acid (HF) from oils is a drastically important problem in petroleum industry, since HF causes quick corrosion of pipe lines and brings severe health problems to humanity. Some ionic liquids (ILs) constitute promising scavenger agents thanks to strong binding to polar compounds and tunability. PM7-MD simulations and hybrid density functional theory are employed here to consider HF capture ability of ILs. Discussing the effects and impacts of the cation and the anion separately and together, I will evaluate performance of imidazolium acetate and outline systematic sear…
The intermolecular interactions in the title compound are investigated using self-consistent charge density functional based tight binding molecular dynamics. Emphasis is put on the analysis of correlated motions of ion pairs using ideas of network theory. At equilibrium such correlations are not very pronounced on average. However, there exist sizeable local correlations for cases where two cations share the same anion via two NHO-hydrogen bonds. The effect of an external perturbation, which artificially introduces a sudden local heating of an NH-bond, is investigated using nonequilibrium mol…
The bulk self diffusion of the ethylammonium cation and the nitrate anion can both be described by respective single diffusion coefficients. Diffusion of the anion is 1.7 times higher than that of the cation. This indicates no tight association of the ions in the ionic liquid. For the ethylammonium cation confined between glass plates the effective diffusion coefficient along, as well as normal to the confining glass plates is higher by a factor of 1.86 as compared to that in the bulk. The same time, NMR T2 relaxation of protons of NH3 group of the EA cation is faster by a factor of 22 than th…
Films of titanate nanosheets (approx. 1.8-nm layer thickness and 200-nm size) having a lamellar structure can form electrolytefilled semi-permeable channels containing tetrabutylammonium cations. By evaporation of a colloidal solution, persistent deposits are readily formed with approx. 10 micrometer thickness on a 6-micrometer-thick poly(ethylene-terephthalate) (PET) substrate with a 20 micrometer diameter microhole. When immersed in aqueous solution, the titanate nanosheets exhibit a p.z.c. of -37 mV, consistent with the formation of a cation conducting (semi-permeable) deposit. With a suffi…
Electric Field Induced Associations in the Double Layer of Salt-in-Ionic-Liquid Electrolytes
Massachusetts Institute of Technology（麻省理工学院）；Harvard University（哈佛大学）；Imperial College London（伦敦帝国学院）；Princeton University（普林斯顿大学）；University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign（伊利诺伊大学厄巴纳-香槟分校）
Photoelectron spectroscopy experiments in ionic solutions reveal important electronic structure information, in which the interaction between hydrated ions and water solvent can be inferred. Based on many-body perturbation theory with GW approximation, we theoretically compute the quasiparticle electronic structure of chloride anion solution, which is modeled by path-integral $ab$ $initio$ molecular dynamics simulation by taking account the nuclear quantum effects (NQEs). The electronic levels of hydrated anion as well as water are determined and compared to the recent experimental photoelectr…
Relaxation rates in the $13mLiNO_3-6,5mCa(NO_3)_2-H_2O$ ternary system have been measured for nuclei of water ($^1H$ and $^{17}O$), anion ($^{14}N$), and both cations ($^7Li$, $^{43}Ca$). The data analysis reveals the system structure as consisting of two main charged units: [Li(H$_2$O)$_4$]$^+$ and [Ca(NO$_3$)$_4$]$^{2-}$. Thus the system presents inorganic ionic liquid like structure.
Several calorimetric measurements have shown that 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium dicyanamide, [C2C1im][N(CN)2], is a glass-forming liquid, even though it is a low-viscous liquid at room temperature. Here we found slow crystallization during cooling of [C2C1im][N(CN)2] along Raman spectroscopy measurements. The low-frequency range of the Raman spectrum shows that the same crystalline phase is obtained at 210 K either by cooling or by reheating the glass (cold-crystallization). Another crystalline phase is formed at ca. 260 K just prior the melting at 270 K. X-ray diffraction and calorimetric measu…
Imidazolium cations are promising for anion exchange membranes, and electrochemical applications and gas capture. They can be chemically modified in many ways including halogenation. Halogenation possibilities of the imidazole ring constitute a particular interest. This work investigates fluorination and chlorination reactions of all symmetrically non-equivalent sites of the imidazolium cation. Halogenation of all carbon atoms is thermodynamically permitted. Out of these, the most favorable site is the first methylene group of the alkyl chain. In turn, the least favorable site is carbon of the…
The antiferromagnetic (AF) model is generalized for the quasielectron system composed of identical ionic-covalent dimers. The density-fluctuation and covalent-correlation operators are constructed based on the extended AF density matrices, and the quasielectron system is decomposed into 4-level subsystems for the electron ionization and affinity. By considering the nearest-neighbor hopping near the covalent limit, we can see the importance of the bonding coefficients to the effective mass of the excited carrier in the crystal of the zincblende structure.
Aqueous solutions of amino acid ionic liquids (AAILs) are of high importance for applications in protein synthesis and solubilization, enzymatic reactions, templates for synthetic study, etc. This work employs molecular dynamics simulations using our own force field to investigate shear viscosity and cluster compositions of three 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium (emim) amino acid salts: [emim][ala], [emim][met], and [emim][trp] solutions (2, 5, 10, 20, 30 mol%) in water at 310 K. We, for the first time, establish simple correlations between cluster composition, on one side, and viscosity, on anothe…
Ionic liquids are solvent-free electrolytes, some of which possess an intriguing self-assembly property. Using a mean-field framework (based on Onsager's relations) we show that bulk nano-structures arise via type-I and II phase transitions (PT), which directly affect the electrical double layer (EDL) structure. Ginzburg-Landau equation is derived and PT are related to temperature, potential and interactions. The type-I PT occurs for geometrically dissimilar anion/cation ratio and, surprisingly, is induced by perturbations on order of thermal fluctuations. Finally, we compare the insights with…
Here we present a theory of ion aggregation and gelation of room temperature ionic liquids (RTILs). Based on it, we investigate the effect of ion aggregation on correlated ion transport - ionic conductivity and transference numbers - obtaining closed-form expressions for these quantities.The theory depends on the maximum number of associations a cation and anion can form, and the strength of their association. To validate the presented theory, we perform molecular dynamics simulations on several RTILs, and a range of temperatures for one RTIL. The simulations indicate the formation of large cl…
Dynamics of a coarse-grained model for the room-temperature ionic liquid, 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium hexafluorophosphate, couched in the united-atom site representation are studied via molecular dynamics simulations. The dynamically heterogeneous behavior of the model resembles that of fragile supercooled liquids. At or close to room temperature, the model ionic liquid exhibits slow dynamics, characterized by nonexponential structural relaxation and subdiffusive behavior. The structural relaxation time, closely related to the viscosity, shows a super-Arrhenius behavior. Local excitations, def…
Electronic polarization and charge transfer effects play a crucial role in thermodynamic, structural and transport properties of room-temperature ionic liquids (RTILs). These non-additive interactions constitute a useful tool for tuning physical chemical behavior of RTILs. Polarization and charge transfer generally decay as temperature increases, although their presence should be expected over an entire condensed state temperature range. For the first time, we use three popular pyridinium-based RTILs to investigate temperature dependence of electronic polarization in RTILs. Atom-centered densi…
We apply a new methodology in the force field generation (PCCP 2011, 13, 7910) to study the binary mixtures of five imidazolium-based room-temperature ionic liquids (RTILs) with acetonitrile (ACN). The investigated RTILs are composed of tetrafluoroborate (BF4) anion and dialkylimidazolium cations, where one of the alkyl groups is methyl for all RTILs, and the other group is different for each RTILs, being ethyl (EMIM), butyl (BMIM), hexyl (HMIM), octyl (OMIM), and decyl (DMIM). Specific densities, radial distribution functions, ionic cluster distributions, heats of vaporization, diffusion cons…
Previous theoretical studies of calamitic (i.e., rod-like) ionic liquid crystals (ILCs) based on an effective one-species model led to indications of a novel smectic-A phase with a layer spacing being much larger than the length of the mesogenic (i.e., liquid-crystal forming) ions. In order to rule out the possibility that this wide smectic-A phase is merely an artifact caused by the one-species approximation, we investigate an extension which accounts explicitly for cations and anions in ILCs. Our present findings, obtained by grand canonical Monte Carlo simulations, show that the phase trans…
Lithium fluorinated carbon is one of the most promising chemistries for high-energy-density primary energy storage systems in applications where rechargeability is not required. Though Li/CFx demonstrates high energy density under ambient conditions, achieving such a high energy density when exposed to subzero temperatures remains a challenge, particularly under high current density. Here, we report a liquefied gas electrolyte with an anion-pair solvation structure based on dimethyl ether with a low melting point and low viscosity, leading to high ionic conductivity between a wide temperature …
