Charge transport and mass transport in imidazolium-based ionic liquids

Transient Nonlinear Response of Dynamically Decoupled Ionic Conductors

The present study demonstrates that large electric fields progressively enhance the conductivity of ionic systems up to timescales corresponding to those on which their structural rearrangements take place. Yet, in many ionic materials, some regarded as candidates for electrical energy storage applications, the structural relaxation process can be tremendously slower than (or highly decoupled from) the charge fluctuations. Consequently, nonlinear dielectric spectroscopy may be employed to access rheological information in dynamically decoupled ionic conductors, whereas the combination of large electric power density and good mechanical stability, both technologically highly desired, imposes specific experimental constraints to reliably determine the steady-state conductivity of such materials.

Generic Primary Mechanical Response of Viscous Liquids

Four decades ago a seminal review by Jonscher [Nature (London) 267, 673 (1977)NATUAS0028-083610.1038/267673a0] revealed that the dielectric response of conducting materials is characterized by a "remarkable universality". Demonstrating that the same response pattern is exhibited also by shear rheological spectra of nonpolymeric viscous liquids, the present contribution connects two branches of condensed matter physics: Concepts developed for charge transport can be employed for the description of mass flow and vice versa. Based on the virtual equivalence of the two dynamics a connection is established between microscopic and macroscopic viscoelastic characteristics of liquids, resembling the Barton-Nakajima-Namikawa relation for conductivity.

Dielectric study on mixtures of ionic liquids

Ionic liquids are promising candidates for electrolytes in energy-storage systems. We demonstrate that mixing two ionic liquids allows to precisely tune their physical properties, like the dc conductivity. Moreover, these mixtures enable the gradual modification of the fragility parameter, which is believed to be a measure of the complexity of the energy landscape in supercooled liquids. The physical origin of this index is still under debate; therefore, mixing ionic liquids can provide further insights. From the chemical point of view, tuning ionic liquids via mixing is an easy and thus an economic way. For this study, we performed detailed investigations by broadband dielectric spectroscopy and differential scanning calorimetry on two mixing series of ionic liquids. One series combines an imidazole based with a pyridine based ionic liquid and the other two different anions in an imidazole based ionic liquid. The analysis of the glass-transition temperatures and the thorough evaluations of the measured dielectric permittivity and conductivity spectra reveal that the dynamics in mixtures of ionic liquids are well defined by the fractions of their parent compounds.

Dynamic-Mechanical and Dielectric Evidence of Long-Lived Mesoscale Organization in Ionic Liquids

Experimental evidence of the dynamics of mesoscopic structure in room-temperature ionic liquids-a feature expected to correlate with many physicochemical properties of these materials-remains limited. Here, we report the observation of slow, sub-α relaxations corresponding to dynamics of nanoscale hydrophobic aggregates in a systematic series of 1-alkyl-3-methylimidazolium-based ionic liquids from detailed analysis of dynamic-mechanical and broad-band dielectric spectra. The emergence of the sub-α relaxations correlates with increases in the zero-shear viscosity and static dielectric permittivity, constituting direct evidence of the influence of mesoscale aggregation on the physicochemical properties of ionic liquids.

Experimental evidence of high pressure decoupling between charge transport and structural dynamics in a protic ionic glass-former

In this paper the relaxation dynamics of ionic glass-former acebutolol hydrochloride (ACB-HCl) is studied as a function of temperature and pressure by using dynamic light scattering and broadband dielectric spectroscopy. These unique experimental data provide the first direct evidence that the decoupling between the charge transport and structural relaxation exists in proton conductors over a wide T-P thermodynamic space, with the time scale of structural relaxation being constant at the liquid-glass transition (τ_α = 1000 s). We demonstrate that the enhanced proton transport, being a combination of intermolecular H⁺ hopping between cation and anion as well as tautomerization process within amide moiety of ACB molecule, results in a breakdown of the Stokes-Einstein relation at ambient and elevated pressure with the fractional exponent k being pressure dependent. The dT_g/dP coefficient, stretching exponent β_KWW and dynamic modulus E_a/ΔV^# were found to be the same regardless of the relaxation processes studied. This is in contrast to the apparent activation volume parameter that is different when charge transport and structural dynamics are considered. These experimental results together with theoretical considerations create new ideas to design efficient proton conductors for potential electrochemical applications.

Cation Dynamics in Supercooled and Solid Alkyl Methylimidazolium Bromide Ionic Liquids

The molecular dynamics of alkyl methylimidazolium bromide ionic liquids with different side groups of the cation are studied over a wide range of temperatures, covering the supercooled and crystalline states. Nuclear magnetic resonance relaxation dispersion (NMRD) at different magnetic field strengths was combined with NMR pulsed field gradient (PFG) diffusion measurements in order to obtain a description of the temperature dependence of the cationic mobility. While an Arrhenius dependence of the correlation times was found at high temperatures, a deviation is observed below a critical temperature of T_dyn ∼ 275 K which corresponds to about 1.25 T_g for two of the substances. The macroscopic diffusion coefficient, on the other hand, is best described by a VFT dependence down to a similar temperature, and a much weaker temperature dependence below. Measurements carried out in the crystalline state of 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium bromide (Bmim Br) exhibit a dramatically increased self-diffusion coefficient in agreement with earlier reports of strong dynamic heterogeneity in the presence of minute amounts of water.

Nonlinear permittivity spectra of supercooled ionic liquids: Observation of a "hump" in the third-order permittivity spectra and comparison to double-well potential models

We have measured the third-order permittivity spectra ε₃³ of a monocationic and of a dicationic liquid close to the glass transition temperature by applying ac electric fields with large amplitudes up to 180 kV/cm. A peak ("hump") in the modulus of ε₃³ is observed for a mono-cationic liquid after subtraction of the dc contribution from the imaginary part of ε₃³. We show that the origin of this experimental "hump" is a peak in the imaginary part of ε₃³, with the peak height strongly increasing with decreasing temperature. Overall, the spectral shape of the third-order permittivity of both ionic liquids is similar to the predictions of a symmetric double well potential model, although this model does not predict a "hump" in the modulus. In contrast, an asymmetric double well potential model predicts a "hump," but the spectral shape of both the real and imaginary part of ε₃³ deviates significantly from the experimental spectra. These results show that not only the modulus of ε₃³ but also its phase is an important quantity when comparing experimental results with theoretical predictions.

Anisotropic charge transport in ion-conductive photoresponsive polyethylene oxide-based mesomorphic materials

The mechanism of charge motion in conductive and photosensitive mesogenic block copolymers containing polyethylene oxide (PEO) segments is investigated over a wide frequency and temperature range with the broadband dielectric spectroscopy technique. It is found that the ultraviolet (UV) irradiation, the UV intensity, and the anchoring conditions of mesogenic unit in the cells produce changes in conductivity properties and in the molecular arrangement. The anisotropic nature of the conductivity is established.

Mechanism of Conductivity Relaxation in Liquid and Polymeric Electrolytes: Direct Link between Conductivity and Diffusivity

Combining broadband impedance spectroscopy, differential scanning calorimetry, and nuclear magnetic resonance we analyzed charge and mass transport in two polymerized ionic liquids and one of their monomeric precursors. In order to establish a general procedure for extracting single-particle diffusivity from their conductivity spectra, we critically assessed several approaches previously employed to describe the onset of diffusive charge dynamics and of the electrode polarization in ion conducting materials. Based on the analysis of the permittivity spectra, we demonstrate that the conductivity relaxation process provides information on ion diffusion and the magnitude of cross-correlation effects between ionic motions. A new approach is introduced which is able to estimate ionic diffusivities from the characteristic times of conductivity relaxation and ion concentration without any adjustable parameters. This opens the venue for a deeper understanding of charge transport in concentrated and diluted electrolyte solutions.

Anomalous Wien Effects in Supercooled Ionic Liquids

We have measured conductivity spectra of several supercooled monocationic and dicationic ionic liquids in the nonlinear regime by applying ac electric fields with large amplitudes up to about 180  kV/cm. Thereby, higher harmonic ac currents up to the 7th order were detected. Our results point to the existence of anomalous Wien effects in supercooled ionic liquids. Most ionic liquids studied here exhibit a conductivity-viscosity relation, which is close to the predictions of the Nernst-Einstein and Stokes-Einstein equations, as observed for classical strong electrolytes like KCl. These "strong" ionic liquids show a much stronger nonlinearity of the conductivity than classical strong electrolytes. On the other hand, the conductivity-viscosity relation of the ionic liquid [P_{6,6,6,14}][Cl] points to ion association effects. This "weak" ionic liquid shows a strength of the nonlinear effect, which is comparable to classical weak electrolytes. However, the nonlinearity increases quadratically with the field. We suggest that a theory for explaining these anomalies will have to go beyond the level of Coulomb lattice gas models.

Anhydrous Proton Conducting Polymer Electrolyte Membranes via Polymerization-Induced Microphase Separation

Solid-state polymer electrolyte membranes (PEMs) exhibiting high ionic conductivity coupled with mechanical robustness and high thermal stability are vital for the design of next-generation lithium-ion batteries and high-temperature fuel cells. We present the in situ preparation of nanostructured PEMs incorporating a protic ionic liquid (IL) into one of the domains of a microphase-separated block copolymer created via polymerization-induced microphase separation. This facile, one-pot synthetic strategy transforms a homogeneous liquid precursor consisting of a poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) macro-chain-transfer agent, styrene and divinylbenzene monomers, and protic IL into a robust and transparent monolith. The resulting PEMs exhibit a bicontinuous morphology comprising PEO/protic IL conducting pathways and highly cross-linked polystyrene (PS) domains. The cross-linked PS mechanical scaffold imparts thermal and mechanical stability to the PEMs, with an elastic modulus approaching 10 MPa at 180 °C, without sacrificing the ionic conductivity of the system. Crucially, the long-range continuity of the PEO/protic IL conducting nanochannels results in an outstanding ionic conductivity of 14 mS/cm at 180 °C. We posit that proton conduction in the protic IL occurs via the vehicular mechanism and the PEMs exhibit an average proton transference number of 0.7. This approach is very promising for the development of high-temperature, robust PEMs with excellent proton conductivities.

Proton conductivity and phase transitions in 1,2,3-triazole

1,2,3-Triazole (TR) is a good proton conductor which is tidely related to formation of a hydrogen bond network along the N-HN trajectory and its self-dissociation into diH-1,2,3-triazolium and 1,2,3-triazolate. To gain a deeper understanding, the proton conductivity of TR is measured by impedance spectroscopy (IS) across its melting temperature and an additionally discovered solid-solid phase transition. The orthorhombic high temperature phase and the monoclinic low temperature modification are investigated by polarized optical microscopy, DSC- and WAXS measurements. Furthermore, the diffusion coefficients of TR are determined from IS data and measured by (1)H PFG NMR spectroscopy in the melt which allows for separate evaluation of contributions of proton hopping across the hydrogen bond network and the vehicle mechanism to the proton conductivity where the vehicles are defined as charged species generated by TR self-dissociation. Finally, the degree of dissociation of TR is calculated and the influence of the self-dissociation of TR on the proton conductivity is discussed in the context of the dielectric constant.

Correlation of the average hopping length to the ion conductivity and ion diffusivity obtained from the space charge polarization in solid polymer electrolytes

The diffusion constant and other electrical parameters of some LiTFSi salt dissociated PEO based polymer electrolytes has been estimated from the impedance spectroscopy data with reasonable agreement to that obtained from PFG-NMR study.

Importance of liquid fragility for energy applications of ionic liquids

Ionic liquids (ILs) are salts that are liquid close to room temperature. Their possible applications are numerous, e.g., as solvents for green chemistry, in various electrochemical devices, and even for such "exotic" purposes as spinning-liquid mirrors for lunar telescopes. Here we concentrate on their use for new advancements in energy-storage and -conversion devices: Batteries, supercapacitors or fuel cells using ILs as electrolytes could be important building blocks for the sustainable energy supply of tomorrow. Interestingly, ILs show glassy freezing and the universal, but until now only poorly understood dynamic properties of glassy matter, dominate many of their physical properties. We show that the conductivity of ILs, an essential figure of merit for any electrochemical application, depends in a systematic way not only on their glass temperature but also on the so-called fragility, characterizing the non-canonical super-Arrhenius temperature dependence of their ionic mobility.

Electrical conductivity and glass formation in nitrile-functionalized pyrrolidinium bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide ionic liquids: chain length and odd-even effects of the alkyl spacer between the pyrrolidinium ring and the nitrile group

The electrical conductivity of a series of pyrrolidinium bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide ionic liquids, functionalized with a nitrile (cyano) group at the end of an alkyl chain attached to the cation, was studied in the temperature range between 173 K and 393 K. The glass formation of the ionic liquids is influenced by the length of the alkyl spacer separating the nitrile function from the pyrrolidinium ring. The electrical conductivity and the viscosity do not show a monotonic dependence on the alkyl spacer length, but rather an odd-even effect. An explanation for this behavior is given, including the potential energy landscape picture for the glass transition.

Recent progress on dielectric properties of protic ionic liquids

Protic ionic liquids (PILs) are key materials for a wide range of emerging technologies. In particular, these systems have long been envisioned as promising candidates for fuel cells. Therefore, in recent years special attention has been devoted to thorough studies of these compounds. Amongst others, dielectric properties of PILs at ambient and elevated pressure have become the subject of intense research. The reason for this lies in the role of broadband dielectric spectroscopy in recognizing the conductivity mechanism in protic ionic systems. In this paper, we summarize the dielectric results of various PILs reflecting recent advances in this field.

Ion jelly conductive properties using dicyanamide-based ionic liquids

The thermal behavior and transport properties of several ion jellys (IJs), a composite that results from the combination of gelatin with an ionic liquid (IL), were investigated by dielectric relaxation spectroscopy (DRS), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), and pulsed field gradient nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (PFG NMR). Four different ILs containing the dicyanamide anion were used: 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium dicyanamide (BMIMDCA), 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium dicyanamide (EMIMDCA), 1-butyl-1-methylpyrrolidinium dicyanamide (BMPyrDCA), and 1-butylpyridinium dicyanamide (BPyDCA); the bulk ILs were also investigated for comparison. A glass transition was detected by DSC for all materials, ILs and IJs, allowing them to be classified as glass formers. Additionally, an increase in the glass transition temperature upon dehydration was observed with a greater extent for IJs, attributed to a greater hindrance imposed by the gelatin matrix after water removal, rendering the IL less mobile. While crystallization is observed for some ILs with negligible water content, it was never detected for any IJ upon thermal cycling, which persist always as fully amorphous materials. From DRS measurements, conductivity and diffusion coefficients for both cations (D+) and anions (D-) were extracted. D+ values obtained by DRS reveal excellent agreement with those obtained from PFG NMR direct measurements, obeying the same VFTH equation over a large temperature range (ΔT ≈ 150 K) within which D+ varies around 10 decades. At temperatures close to room temperature, the IJs exhibit D values comparable to the most hydrated (9%) ILs. The IJ derived from EMIMDCA possesses the highest conductivity and diffusion coefficient, respectively, ∼10(-2) S·cm(-1) and ∼10(-10) m(2)·s(-1). For BMPyrDCA the relaxational behavior was analyzed through the complex permittivity and modulus formalism allowing the assignment of the detected secondary relaxation to a Johari-Goldstein process. Besides the relevant information on the more fundamental nature providing physicochemical details on ILs behavior, new doorways are opened for practical applications by using IJ as a strategy to produce novel and stable electrolytes for different electrochemical devices.

Decoupling of ionic conductivity from structural dynamics in polymerized ionic liquids

Charge transport and structural dynamics in low molecular weight and polymerized 1-vinyl-3-pentylimidazolium bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide ionic liquids (ILs) are investigated by a combination of broadband dielectric spectroscopy, dynamic mechanical spectroscopy and differential scanning calorimetry. While the dc conductivity and fluidity exhibit practically identical temperature dependence for the non-polymerized IL, a significant decoupling of ionic conduction from structural dynamics is observed for the polymerized IL. In addition, the dc conductivity of the polymerized IL exceeds that of its molecular counterpart by four orders of magnitude at their respective calorimetric glass transition temperatures. This is attributed to the unusually high mobility of the anions especially at lower temperatures when the structural dynamics is significantly slowed down. A simple physical explanation of the possible origin of the remarkable decoupling of ionic conductivity from structural dynamics is proposed.

Correction of the power law of ac conductivity in ion-conducting materials due to the electrode polarization effect

Based on the supposition related to fractal nature of transport processes in ion-conducting materials, an expression for the low-frequency ac conductivity dependence was derived. This expression for the ac conductivity generalizes the power-law dependence and gives a possibility to take into account the influence of the electrode polarization effect. The ac conductivity expression obtained is in excellent agreement with experimental data for a wide frequency range.

Observation of highly decoupled conductivity in protic ionic conductors

Using dielectric spectroscopy, we report the observation of highly decoupled conductivity in a newly synthesized protic ionic conductor, lidocaine di-(dihydrogen phosphate).

Examination of methods to determine free-ion diffusivity and number density from analysis of electrode polarization

Electrode polarization analysis is frequently used to determine free-ion diffusivity and number density in ionic conductors. In the present study, this approach is critically examined in a wide variety of electrolytes, including aqueous and nonaqueous solutions, polymer electrolytes, and ionic liquids. It is shown that the electrode polarization analysis based on the Macdonald-Trukhan model [J. Chem. Phys. 124, 144903 (2006); J. Non-Cryst. Solids 357, 3064 (2011)] progressively fails to give reasonable values of free-ion diffusivity and number density with increasing salt concentration. This should be expected because the original model of electrode polarization is designed for dilute electrolytes. An empirical correction method which yields ion diffusivities in reasonable agreement with pulsed-field gradient nuclear magnetic resonance measurements is proposed. However, the analysis of free-ion diffusivity and number density from electrode polarization should still be exercised with great caution because there is no solid theoretical justification for the proposed corrections.

Encapsulated ionic liquids (ENILs): from continuous to discrete liquid phase

Encapsulated ionic liquid (ENIL) material was developed, consisting of ionic liquid (IL) introduced into carbon submicrocapsules. ENILs contain >85% w/w of IL but discretized in submicroscopic encapsulated drops, drastically increasing the surface contact area with respect to the neat fluid. ENIL materials were here tested for gas separation processes, obtaining a drastic increase in mass transfer rate.

Dynamics of glass-forming liquids. XIV. A search for ultraslow dielectric relaxation in glycerol

A recent dielectric study of various polyalcohols reported on the general occurrence of an ultraslow process with Debye type character in hydrogen bonded liquids [R. Bergman, H. Jansson, and J. Swenson, J. Chem. Phys. 132, 044504 (2010)], whereas previous work suggested that such behavior is specific to monoalcohols only. Clarifying this issue is highly relevant for assessing models aimed at rationalizing these modes that are slower than the primary structural relaxation and associated with a single time constant. To this end, the dielectric relaxation of glycerol is measured at different electrode distances with high accuracy. In this manner, electrode polarization can be separated from the dielectric signals intrinsic in the supercooled liquid. In the frequency range below the loss peak frequency omega(max) of the alpha-process, only dc-conductivity is required to understand the dielectric properties of supercooled glycerol within a margin of epsilon(") approximately +/-0.1 and thus no indication of an ultraslow peak is found. More quantitatively, any dielectric Debye like mode located around 10(-5)omega(max) would need to have an amplitude smaller than 0.4% of that of the primary dielectric process to be consistent with the present findings, in contrast to previous claims of >50%.

Translation-rotation decoupling and nonexponentiality in room temperature ionic liquids

Using a combination of light scattering techniques and broadband dielectric spectroscopy, we have measured the temperature dependence of structural relaxation time and self diffusion in three imidazolium-based room temperature ionic liquids: [bmim][NTf(2)], [bmim][PF(6)], and [bmim][TFA]. A detailed analysis of the results demonstrates that self diffusion decouples from structural relaxation in these systems as the temperature is decreased toward T(g). The degree to which the dynamics are decoupled, however, is shown to be surprisingly weak when compared to other supercooled liquids of similar fragility. In addition to the weak decoupling, we demonstrate that the temperature dependence of the structural relaxation time in all three liquids can be well described by a single Vogel-Fulcher-Tamann function over 13 decades in time from 10(-11) s up to 10(2) s. Furthermore, the stretching of the structural relaxation is shown to be temperature independent over the same range of time scales, i.e., time temperature superposition is valid for these ionic liquids from far above the melting point down to the glass transition temperature. We suggest that these phenomena are interconnected and all result from the same underlying mechanism--strong and directional intermolecular interactions.

Charge transport and glassy dynamics in ionic liquids

Ionic liquids (ILs) exhibit unique features such as low melting points, low vapor pressures, wide liquidus temperature ranges, high thermal stability, high ionic conductivity, and wide electrochemical windows. As a result, they show promise for use in variety of applications: as reaction media, in batteries and supercapacitors, in solar and fuel cells, for electrochemical deposition of metals and semiconductors, for protein extraction and crystallization, and many others. Because of the ease with which they can be supercooled, ionic liquids offer new opportunities to investigate long-standing questions regarding the nature of the dynamic glass transition and its possible link to charge transport. Despite the significant steps achieved from experimental and theoretical studies, no generally accepted quantitative theory of dynamic glass transition to date has been capable of reproducing all the experimentally observed features. In this Account, we discuss recent studies of the interplay between charge transport and glassy dynamics in ionic liquids as investigated by a combination of several experimental techniques including broadband dielectric spectroscopy, pulsed field gradient nuclear magnetic resonance, dynamic mechanical spectroscopy, and differential scanning calorimetry. Based on Einstein-Smoluchowski relations, we use dielectric spectra of ionic liquids to determine diffusion coefficients in quantitative agreement with independent pulsed field gradient nuclear magnetic resonance measurements, but spanning a broader range of more than 10 orders of magnitude. This approach provides a novel opportunity to determine the electrical mobility and effective number density of charge carriers as well as their types of thermal activation from the measured dc conductivity separately. We also unravel the origin of the remarkable universality of charge transport in different classes of glass-forming ionic liquids.