A Neutron Diffraction Study of the Electrochemical Double Layer Capacitor Electrolyte Tetrapropylammonium Bromide in Acetonitrile

Resolving Halide Ion Stabilization through Kinetically Competitive Electron Transfers

Stabilization of ions and radicals often determines reaction kinetics and thermodynamics, but experimental determination of the stabilization magnitude remains difficult, especially when the species is short-lived. Herein, a competitive kinetic approach to quantify the stabilization of a halide ion toward oxidation imparted by specific stabilizing groups relative to a solvated halide ion is reported. This approach provides the increase in the formal reduction potential, ΔE°'(Χ^•/-), where X = Br and I, that results from the noncovalent interaction with stabilizing groups. The [Ir(dF-(CF₃)-ppy)₂(tmam)]³⁺ photocatalyst features a dicationic ligand tmam [4,4'-bis[(trimethylamino)methyl]-2,2'-bipyridine]²⁺ that is shown by ¹H NMR spectroscopy to associate a single halide ion, K _eq = 7 × 10⁴ M^-1 (Br^-) and K _eq = 1 × 10⁴ M^-1 (I^-). Light excitation of the photocatalyst in halide-containing acetonitrile solutions results in competitive quenching by the stabilized halide and the more easily oxidized diffusing halide ion. Marcus theory is used to relate the rate constants to the electron-transfer driving forces for oxidation of the stabilized and unstabilized halide, the difference of which provides the increase in reduction potentials of ΔE°'(Br^•/-) = 150 ± 24 meV and ΔE°'(I^•/-) = 67 ± 13 meV. The data reveal that K _eq is a poor indicator of these reduction potential shifts. Furthermore, the historic and widely used assumption that Coulombic interactions alone are responsible for stabilization must be reconsidered, at least for polarizable halogens.

Solvation of anthraquinone and TEMPO redox-active species in acetonitrile using a polarizable force field

Redox-active molecules are of interest in many fields, such as medicine, catalysis, or energy storage. In particular, in supercapacitor applications, they can be grafted to ionic liquids to form so-called biredox ionic liquids. To completely understand the structural and transport properties of such systems, an insight at the molecular scale is often required, but few force fields are developed ad hoc for these molecules. Moreover, they do not include polarization effects, which can lead to inaccurate solvation and dynamical properties. In this work, we developed polarizable force fields for redox-active species anthraquinone (AQ) and 2,2,6,6-tetra-methylpiperidinyl-1-oxyl (TEMPO) in their oxidized and reduced states as well as for acetonitrile. We validate the structural properties of AQ, AQ^•-, AQ^2-, TEMPO^•, and TEMPO⁺ in acetonitrile against density functional theory-based molecular dynamics simulations and we study the solvation of these redox molecules in acetonitrile. This work is a first step toward the characterization of the role played by AQ and TEMPO in electrochemical and catalytic devices.

The structural elucidation of aqueous H3BO3 solutions by DFT and neutron scattering studies

The micro-structure of aqueous boric acid (H3BO3) solutions is of broad interest in earth sciences, geochemistry, material science, as well as chemical engineering. In the present study, the structure of aqueous H3BO3 solutions was studied via neutron scattering with 2H and 11B isotope labelling combined with empirical potential structure refinement (EPSR) modelling. In aqueous H3BO3 solutions, B(OH)3 is the dominant borate species. Density function theory (DFT) calculations show that the boron hydroxyl has a lower electrostatic potential (ESP), which makes B(OH)3 a relatively weakly hydrated, compared with the bulk water. In the 0.95 mol L-1 H3BO3 solution at 298 K (saturated), ∼18 water molecules enter the hydration sphere of B(OH)3 with the hydration distance (B-O(W)) of 3.75 Å, while only 4.23 of them hydrate with H3BO3 as the hydrogen bond (H-bond) acceptor or H-bond donor. Both neutron scattering and DFT calculations for 2B(OH)3·6H2O clusters at the ωB97XD/6-311++g(3df,3pd) basis level show that B(OH)3 forms molecular clusters in bidentate contact molecular pairs (BCMP), mono-dentate molecular pairs (MCMP), solvent-shared molecular pairs (SMP), and parallel solvent-shared molecular pairs (PSMP) in aqueous solutions. Their relative contents are both concentration- and temperature-sensitive. BCMP with the B-B distance of ∼4.1 Å is the dominant molecular pair in the aqueous solutions. Relatively less content and van der Waals interactions stabilized PSMP, with a B-B distance of ∼3.6 Å between the two parallel layers, which is a crucial species for the crystallization of H3BO3 from aqueous solution.

Microstructural and Dynamical Heterogeneities in Ionic Liquids

Ionic liquids (ILs) are a special category of molten salts solely composed of ions with varied molecular symmetry and charge delocalization. The versatility in combining varied cation-anion moieties and in functionalizing ions with different atoms and molecular groups contributes to their peculiar interactions ranging from weak isotropic associations to strong, specific, and anisotropic forces. A delicate interplay among intra- and intermolecular interactions facilitates the formation of heterogeneous microstructures and liquid morphologies, which further contributes to their striking dynamical properties. Microstructural and dynamical heterogeneities of ILs lead to their multifaceted properties described by an inherent designer feature, which makes ILs important candidates for novel solvents, electrolytes, and functional materials in academia and industrial applications. Due to a massive number of combinations of ion pairs with ion species having distinct molecular structures and IL mixtures containing varied molecular solvents, a comprehensive understanding of their hierarchical structural and dynamical quantities is of great significance for a rational selection of ILs with appropriate properties and thereafter advancing their macroscopic functionalities in applications. In this review, we comprehensively trace recent advances in understanding delicate interplay of strong and weak interactions that underpin their complex phase behaviors with a particular emphasis on understanding heterogeneous microstructures and dynamics of ILs in bulk liquids, in mixtures with cosolvents, and in interfacial regions.

Solvation Structures of Tetraethylammonium Bromide and Tetrafluoroborate in Aqueous Binary Solvents with Ethanol, Trifluoroethanol, and Acetonitrile

The solvation structures of tetraethylammonium bromide and tetrafluoroborate (TEABr and TEABF₄) in aqueous binary solvents with ethanol (EtOH), 2,2,2-trifluoroethanol (TFE), and acetonitrile (AN) have been clarified by molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. In addition, ¹H and ¹³C NMR chemical shifts of the H and C atoms within TEA⁺ in the binary solvents have been measured as a function of the mole fraction of the organic solvent, x_OS. The variations of the chemical shifts with an increase in x_OS were interpreted according to the solvation structures of TEA⁺, Br^-, and BF₄^- obtained from the MD simulations. It has been found that TEABF₄ at 130 mmol dm^-3 cannot be dissolved into the EtOH and TFE solvents above x_OS ≈ 0.7 and 0.6, respectively, while TEABr can be done in both solvents. Interestingly, TEABr and TEABF₄ at the concentration can be dissolved in the AN solvents over the entire x_OS range. The solvation of TEA⁺, Br^-, and BF₄^- in each solvent has been discussed in terms of the electrostatic force, the weak hydrogen bond of C-H···F-C, and the dipole-dipole interaction.

Dihydrogen Bonds in Aqueous NaBD4 Solution by Neutron and X-ray Diffraction

Neutron diffraction, X-ray diffraction, and empirical potential structure refinement modeling were employed to study the structure of alkaline aqueous NaBD₄ solutions at different NaBD₄ concentrations and temperatures. In 1.0 mol·dm^-3 NaBD₄ aqueous solutions, about 5.6 ± 1.6 water molecules bond to BD₄^- via tetrahedral edges or tetrahedral corners without a very specific hydration geometry; that is, each hydrogen atom of BD₄^- bonds to 2.2 ± 1.0 water molecules through dihydrogen bonds with the D(B)···D(W) distance of 1.95 Å. The number of dihydrogen bonds decreases with increasing concentration and increases with temperature. Dihydrogen bonding is a predominantly electrostatic interaction which shows relatively lower directionality and saturability in comparison with the regular hydrogen bonds between water molecules. The water orientation around BD₄^- shows that the proportion of tetrahedral-edge dihydrogen bonds increases with temperature and decreases with concentration.

Interfacial structure and structural forces in mixtures of ionic liquid with a polar solvent

Oscillatory and monotonic decay in mixtures of salt and solvent at interfaces with varying surface charge.

B(OH)4- hydration and association in sodium metaborate solutions by X-ray diffraction and empirical potential structure refinement

X-ray diffraction is used to study the structure of aqueous sodium metaborate solutions at salt concentrations of 1, 3, and 5 (oversaturated) mol dm^-3. The X-ray structure factors are subjected to empirical potential structure refinement (EPSR) modelling to extract the individual site-site pair correlation functions, the coordination numbers, and the spatial density functions (three-dimensional structure) of ion hydration and association as well as solvent water in the borate solutions. The sodium ion is surrounded on average by (5.4 ± 0.7), (4.6 ± 1.0), and (3.7 ± 1.2) water molecules at 1, 3, and 5 mol dm^-3, respectively, with the Na-O (H₂O) distance of 2.34 Å. The decrease in hydration number of the sodium ion is compensated by direct binding of the oxygen atom of the borate ion, B(OH)₄^-, with the average coordination number of (0.2 ± 0.5), (1.0 ± 0.8), and (2.1 ± 1.3) at the Na-O(B) distance of 2.34 Å to keep the octahedral hydration shell of the sodium ion. The average number of water molecules around the borate ion is (13.9 ± 1.8), (14.2 ± 1.8), and (16.1 ± 2.4) per borate ion with increasing salt concentration with the B-O(H₂O) distance of 3.72 Å. The number of nearest-neighbour water molecules around a central water molecule in a solvent decreases as (4.8 ± 1.2), (3.8 ± 1.1), and (2.8 ± 1.1) with an increase in salt concentration with the O(H₂O)-O(H₂O) distance of 2.79 Å. The Na⁺-B(OH)₄^- ion association is characterized by the Na-O(B) and Na-B pair correlation functions. The Na-B interactions are observed at 3.00 Å as a shoulder and 3.57 Å as a main peak in the site-site pair correlation function, suggesting two occupancy sites of Na⁺ with one for the edge-shared bidentate bonding and the other for the corner-shared monodentate bonding. The total number of Na-B interactions at 3.00 and 3.57 Å is consistent with that of the Na-O(B) interactions. The detailed three-dimensional structure of the ion hydration and association is visualized as a function of salt concentration. The structure and stability of [NaB(OH)₄(H₂O)₆]⁰ clusters are further investigated by DFT calculations, and the most likely structure is proposed and cross-checked.