Interfacial structure of a long chain ionic liquid - Audrey Steinberger (Laboratoire de Physique, ENS Lyon)

Ionic liquids are molten salts at ambient temperature. They display a wide variety of physico-chemical properties, depending on their ionic composition. They have found numerous applications as solvents, as lubricants, and as electrolytes. The structure adopted by the ionic liquid at the interface with a solid substrate has a large impact on the performance of many processes and devices. However, it is still poorly understood. One part of the challenge comes from the fact that the interactions between the ions, and between the ions and the substrate, often go beyond Coulombian and steric interactions. For example, ions functionalized with a long alkyl chain display an amphiphilic behaviour that leads to a bulk nanostructuration into polar and apolar domains. What becomes that nanostructuration close to a solid substrate?

We have studied the interfacial structure of an ionic liquid with a long chain imidazolium cation by combining atomic force microscopy experiments and molecular dynamics simulations. In this talk, after introducing the scientific context in more detail, I will explain our methods and discuss our results.

Contact: Romain Lhermerout