The ionic liquid-vacuum outer atomic surface: a low-energy ion scattering studyElectronic supplementary information (ESI) available. See DOI: 10.1039/c4sc00640b

• Main Authors: Villar-Garcia, Ignacio J, Fearn, Sarah, De Gregorio, Gilbert F, Ismail, Nur L, Gschwend, Florence J. V, McIntosh, Alastair J. S, Lovelock, Kevin R. J
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 2041-6520; 2041-6539
• DOI: 10.1039/c4sc00640b

We have identified elements present in the ionic liquid-vacuum outer atomic surface of 23 ionic liquids using high sensitivity low-energy ion scattering (LEIS), a very surface sensitive technique. We show that the probability of cationic heteroatoms being present at the ionic liquid-vacuum outer atomic surface is very low; we detected imidazolium nitrogen for only one of the 18 imidazolium based ionic liquids investigated, no nitrogen for the two ammonium based ionic liquids and a very small amount of phosphorus for two of the three phosphonium-based ionic liquids. We determine that the anion is always present at the ionic liquid-vacuum outer atomic surface, even for very large cations containing dodecyl alkyl chains or longer; these chains dominate the ionic liquid-vacuum outer atomic surface, but are not sufficiently densely packed to completely cover the anions. We demonstrate the presence of strong hydrogen bond acceptor adsorption sites at the ionic liquid-vacuum outer atomic surface. We demonstrate that the amount of ion present at the ionic liquid-vacuum outer atomic surface can be tuned by varying the size of the other ion; larger cations (or anions) occupy more of the ionic liquid-vacuum outer atomic surface, leaving less room for anions (or cations). By identifying elements present at the ionic liquid-vacuum outer atomic surface, conclusions can be drawn on the orientations of anions nearest the vacuum. We show that for five different anions there is a most probable ion orientation, but other anion orientations also exist, demonstrating the presence of multiple anion orientations. The imidazolium cations nearest to the vacuum also show similar multi-orientation behaviour. This variety of atoms present and therefore ion orientations is expected to be central to controlling surface reactivity. In addition, our results can be used to quantitatively validate simulations of the ionic liquid-vacuum surface at a molecular level. Overall, our studies, in combination with literature data from different techniques and simulations, provide a clear picture of ionic liquid-vacuum outer atomic surfaces. We have identified elements present in the ionic liquid-vacuum outer atomic surface of 23 ionic liquids using high sensitivity low-energy ion scattering (LEIS), a very surface sensitive technique.