Thermophysical Properties of the Ionic Liquids [EMIM][B(CN)4] and [HMIM][B(CN)4]

Ethyl-, vinyl- and ethynylcyanoborates: room temperature borate ionic liquids with saturated and unsaturated hydrocarbon chains

Ethyl-, vinyl- and ethynyltricyano and dicyanofluoroborates were prepared on a gram scale from commercially available potassium trifluoroborates and trimethylsilylcyanide. Salt metathesis resulted in the corresponding EMIm-salts that are hydrophobic room-temperature ionic liquids (RTILs). The new RTILs exhibit unprecedented large electrochemical windows in combination with high thermal stabilities, low dynamic viscosities and high specific conductivities. These properties make them promising materials, especially for electrochemical applications.

Valence electronic structure of [EMIM][B(CN)4]: ion-pair vs. bulk description

The ultraviolet photoelectron spectrum of the [EMIM][B(CN)₄] ionic liquid was recorded and analyzed. Together with different ab initio calculation methods, detailed insight into the electronic structure of this simple room temperature ionic liquid is possible. The ion-pair approximation to the liquid electronic structure was not sufficient. Therefore bulk ab initio calculations were performed on a proposed crystal structure. The modelling of bulk electronic spectra is able to explain the experimental electronic structure of the ionic liquid. Most notably, the dispersion corrected PBE calculation (PBE-D3BJ) showed good agreement with the experimental UPS spectrum. The spectra simulated by the B97-D and the BLYP-D3(BJ) functionals were also in agreement with the experimental data. The LDA approximation only provided qualitative agreement while the optB88-vdW and CX-vdW functionals were not good. However, it will be shown that many requirements have to be met in order to accurately describe the electronic structure of this ionic liquid.

The ultraviolet photoelectron spectrum of the [EMIM][B(CN)₄] ionic liquid was recorded and simulated using different ab initio ion-pair and bulk calculation methods.

Thermal, Mutual, and Self-Diffusivities of Binary Liquid Mixtures Consisting of Gases Dissolved in n-Alkanes at Infinite Dilution

In the present study, dynamic light scattering (DLS) experiments and molecular dynamics (MD) simulations were used for the investigation of the molecular diffusion in binary mixtures of liquids with dissolved gases at macroscopic thermodynamic equilibrium. Model systems based on the n-alkane n-hexane or n-decane with dissolved hydrogen, helium, nitrogen, or carbon monoxide were studied at temperatures between 303 and 423 K and at gas mole fractions below 0.06. With DLS, the relaxation behavior of microscopic equilibrium fluctuations in concentration and temperature is analyzed to determine simultaneously mutual and thermal diffusivity in an absolute way. The present measurements document that even for mole gas fractions of 0.007 and Lewis numbers close to 1, reliable mutual diffusivities with an average expanded uncertainty ( k = 2) of 13% can be obtained. By use of suitable molecular models for the mixture components, the self-diffusion coefficient of the gases was determined by MD simulations with an averaged expanded uncertainty ( k = 2) of 7%. The DLS experiments showed that the thermal diffusivity of the studied systems is not affected by the dissolved gas and agrees with the reference data for the pure n-alkanes. In agreement with theory, mutual diffusivities and self-diffusivities were found to be equal mostly within combined uncertainties at conditions approaching infinite dilution of the gas. Our DLS and MD results, representing the first available data for the present systems, reveal distinctly larger mass diffusivities for mixtures containing hydrogen or helium compared to mixtures containing nitrogen or carbon monoxide. On the basis of the broad range of mass diffusivities of the studied gas-liquid systems covering about 2 orders of magnitude from about 10^-9 to 10^-7 m²·s^-1, effects of the solvent and solute properties on the temperature-dependent mass diffusivities are discussed. This contributed to the development of a simple semiempirical correlation for the mass diffusivity of the studied gases dissolved in n-alkanes of varying chain length at infinite dilution as a function of temperature. The generalized expression requiring only information on the kinematic viscosity and molar mass of the pure solvent as well as the molar mass and acentric factor of the solute represents the database from this work and further literature with an absolute average deviation of about 11%.

Perfluoroalkyltricyanoborate and Perfluoroalkylcyanofluoroborate Anions: Building Blocks for Low-Viscosity Ionic Liquids

The potassium perfluoroalkyltricyanoborates K[C_n F_2 n+1 B(CN)₃ ] [n=1 (1 d), 2 (2 d)] and the potassium mono(perfluoroalkyl)cyanofluoroborates K[C_n F_2 n+1 BF(CN)₂ ] [n=1 (1 c), 2 (2 c)] and [C_n F_2 n+1 BF₂ (CN)]^- [n=1 (1 b), 2 (2 b), 3 (3 b), 4 (4 b)] are accessible with perfect selectivities on multi-gram scales starting from K[C_n F_2 n+1 BF₃ ] and Me₃ SiCN. The K⁺ salts are starting materials for the preparation of salts with organic cations, for example, [EMIm]⁺ (EMIm=1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium). These [EMIm]⁺ salts are hydrophobic room-temperature ionic liquids (RTILs) that are thermally, chemically and electrochemically very robust, offering electrochemical windows up to 5.8 V. The RTILs described herein, exhibit very low viscosities with a minimum of 14.0 mPa s at 20 °C for [EMIm]1 c, low melting points down to -57 °C for [EMIm]2 b and extraordinary high conductivities up to 17.6 mS cm^-1 at 20 °C for [EMIm]1 c. The combination of these properties makes these ILs promising materials for electrochemical devices as exemplified by the application of selected RTILs as component of electrolytes in dye-sensitised solar cells (DSSCs, Grätzel cells). The efficiency of the DSSCs was found to increase with a decreasing viscosity of the neat ionic liquid. In addition to the spectroscopic characterisation, single crystals of the potassium salts of the anions 1 b-d, 2 d, 3 b and 4 c as well as of [nBu₄ N]2 c have been studied by X-ray diffraction.

Transformation of the ionic liquid [EMIM][B(CN)4] into anionic and neutral lanthanum tetracyanoborate coordination polymers by ionothermal reactions

In ionothermal reactions, a room temperature borate-ionic liquid is directly transformed into coordination polymers by coordination to lanthanide cations.

Molecular simulations of imidazolium-based tricyanomethanide ionic liquids using an optimized classical force field

An atomistic force field is optimized to accurately predict the equilibrium and transport properties of technologically important imidazolium-based tricyanomethanide ionic liquids.

Thermophysical properties of imidazolium tricyanomethanide ionic liquids: experiments and molecular simulation

The low-viscous tricyanomethanide ([TCM]⁻)-based ionic liquids (ILs) are gaining increasing interest as attractive fluids for a variety of industrial applications.