Tuning the electronic environment of cations and anions using ionic liquid mixtures

Villar-Garcia, I. J., Lovelock, K. R. J. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1431-269X, Men, S. and Licence, P. (2014) Tuning the electronic environment of cations and anions using ionic liquid mixtures. Chemical Science, 5 (6). pp. 2573-2579. ISSN 1478-6524 doi: 10.1039/c4sc00106k

Abstract/Summary

Electrostatic interactions are ubiquitous in ionic liquids and therefore, the electronic environment (i.e. the distribution of electron density) of their constituent ions has a determining influence on their properties and applications. Moreover, the distribution of electron density on atoms is at the core of ionic liquid molecular dynamics simulations. In this work, we demonstrate that changing the composition of ionic liquid mixtures can tune the electronic environment of their constituent ions, both anions and cations. The electronic environment of these ions can be monitored by measuring the characteristic electron binding energies of their constituent atoms by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The possibility to fine tune, in a controlled way, the electronic environment of specific ions provides an invaluable tool to understand ionic liquid properties and allows the design of ionic liquid mixtures towards specific applications. Here, we demonstrate the power of this tool by tuning the electronic environment of a catalytic centre, and consequently its catalytic activity, by the use of ionic liquid mixtures.

Item Type	Article
URI	https://reading-clone.eprints-hosting.org/id/eprint/76257
Item Type	Article
Refereed	Yes
Divisions	Life Sciences > School of Chemistry, Food and Pharmacy > Department of Chemistry
Publisher	Royal Society of Chemistry
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