Direct Correlation of Surface Tension and Surface Composition of Ionic Liquid Mixtures—A Combined Vacuum Pendant Drop and Angle-Resolved X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy Study

oleh: Ulrike Paap, Vera Seidl, Karsten Meyer, Florian Maier, Hans-Peter Steinrück

Format: Article
Diterbitkan: MDPI AG 2022-12-01

Deskripsi

We investigated the surface tension and surface composition of various mixtures of the two ionic liquids (ILs) 1-methyl-3-octyl-imidazolium hexafluorophosphate [C<sub>8</sub>C<sub>1</sub>Im][PF<sub>6</sub>] and 1,3-<i>bis</i>(polyethylene glycol)imidazolium iodide [(mPEG<sub>2</sub>)<sub>2</sub>Im]I in the temperature range from 230 to 370 K under ultraclean vacuum conditions. The surface tension was measured using a newly developed apparatus, and the surface composition was determined by angle-resolved X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (ARXPS). In the pure ILs, the alkyl chains of [C<sub>8</sub>C<sub>1</sub>Im][PF<sub>6</sub>] and the PEG chains of [(mPEG<sub>2</sub>)<sub>2</sub>Im]I are enriched at the IL/vacuum interface. In the mixtures, a strong selective surface enrichment of the alkyl chains occurs, which is most pronounced at low [C<sub>8</sub>C<sub>1</sub>Im][PF<sub>6</sub>] contents. For the surface tension, strong deviations from an ideal mixing behaviour take place. By applying a simple approach based on the surface composition of the mixtures as deduced from ARXPS, we are able to predict and reproduce the experimentally measured temperature-dependent surface tension values with astonishingly high accuracy.