Ion pairing and phase behaviour of an asymmetric restricted primitive model of ionic liquids

Size-Polydisperse Model Ionic Liquid in Bulk

The static and the dynamic properties of a size-polydisperse model ionic liquid is studied using molecular dynamics simulations. Here, the size of the anions is derived from a Gaussian distribution while keeping cation size fixed, resulting in a system that closely corresponds to IL mixtures with a common cation. We systematically explore the behavior of thermodynamic transition temperatures, spatial ordering of ions, and the resulting screening behavior as a function of polydispersity index, δ. We observe a nonmonotonic dependence of transition temperatures on δ, and this nonmonotonic behavior is also reflected in other properties such as screening length. Furthermore, from the radial distribution function analysis it is found that, upon varying δ, the spatial ordering of cations is affected, while no such changes is seen for anion. On the other hand, the analysis of ion motion through mean-square displacement show that for all δ values considered both inertial and diffusive regimes are observed (as expected in the liquid state). However, in contrast to the neutral counterpart, the overall relaxation time of the polydisperse IL system increases (and hence decreasing diffusion coefficient) with increasing δ.

Boundary-Monte Carlo Method for Neutral and Charged Confined Fluids

In this work, we describe a new Monte Carlo (MC) simulation method to investigate highly coupled fluids in confined geometries at a constant chemical potential. This method is based on so-called multi-scale Hamiltonian methods, wherein the chemical potential is determined using a more amenable Hamiltonian for a fluid in an "outer" region, which facilitates standard methods, such as grand canonical MC simulations or Widom's particle insertion method. The (inner region) fluid of interest is placed in diffusive contact with the simpler outer fluid via a boundary zone wherein the Hamiltonian is transformed. The current method utilizes an ideal fluid for the outer regions, which allows for implicit rather than explicit simulations. Only the boundary and inner region need explicit consideration; hence, the nomenclature used is boundary-Monte Carlo. We illustrate the utility of the method for simple neutral and charged fluids in cylindrical and planar pores. In the latter case, we use a dense room-temperature ionic liquid model and illustrate how the boundary zone establishes a proper Donnan equilibrium between inner and outer fluids in the presence of charged planar electrodes. Thus, the method allows direct calculation of properties such as the differential capacitance, without the need for additional difficult calculations of the requisite Donnan potential.

Structural transitions at electrodes, immersed in simple ionic liquid models

We used a recently developed classical Density Functional Theory (DFT) method to study the structures, phase transitions, and electrochemical behaviours of two coarse-grained ionic fluid models, in the presence of a perfectly conducting model electrode. Common to both is that the charge of the cationic component is able to approach the electrode interface more closely than the anion charge. This means that the cations are specifically attracted to the electrode, due to surface polarization effects. Hence, for a positively charged electrode, there is competition at the surface between cations and anions, where the latter are attracted by the positive electrode charge. This generates demixing, for a range of positive voltages, where the two phases are structurally quite different. The surface charge density is also different between the two phases, even at the same potential. The DFT formulation contains an approximate treatment of ion correlations, and surface polarization, where the latter is modelled via screened image interactions. Using a mean-field DFT, where ion correlations are neglected, causes the phase transition to vanish for both models, but there is still a dramatic drop in the differential capacitance as proximal cations are replaced by anions, for increasing surface potentials. While these findings were obtained for relatively crude coarse-grained models, we argue that the findings can also be relevant in "real" systems, where we note that many ionic liquids are composed of a spherically symmetric anion, and a cation that is asymmetric both from a steric and a charge distribution point of view.

Targeted modifications in ionic liquids - from understanding to design

Ionic liquids are extremely versatile and continue to find new applications in academia as well as industry. This versatility is rooted in the manifold of possible ion types, ion combinations, and ion variations. However, to fully exploit this versatility, it is imperative to understand how the properties of ionic liquids arise from their constituents. In this work, we discuss targeted modifications as a powerful tool to provide understanding and to enable design. A 'targeted modification' is a deliberate change in the structure of an ionic liquid. This includes chemical changes in an experiment as well as changes to the parameterisation in a computer simulation. In any case, such a change must be purposeful to isolate what is of interest, studying, as far as is possible, only one concept at a time. The concepts can then be used as design elements. However, it is often found that several design elements interact with each other - sometimes synergistically, and other times antagonistically. Targeted modifications are a systematic way of navigating these overlaps. We hope this paper shows that understanding ionic liquids requires experimentalists and theoreticians to join forces and provides a tool to tackle the difficult transition from understanding to design.

Microstructural and Dynamical Heterogeneities in Ionic Liquids

Ionic liquids (ILs) are a special category of molten salts solely composed of ions with varied molecular symmetry and charge delocalization. The versatility in combining varied cation-anion moieties and in functionalizing ions with different atoms and molecular groups contributes to their peculiar interactions ranging from weak isotropic associations to strong, specific, and anisotropic forces. A delicate interplay among intra- and intermolecular interactions facilitates the formation of heterogeneous microstructures and liquid morphologies, which further contributes to their striking dynamical properties. Microstructural and dynamical heterogeneities of ILs lead to their multifaceted properties described by an inherent designer feature, which makes ILs important candidates for novel solvents, electrolytes, and functional materials in academia and industrial applications. Due to a massive number of combinations of ion pairs with ion species having distinct molecular structures and IL mixtures containing varied molecular solvents, a comprehensive understanding of their hierarchical structural and dynamical quantities is of great significance for a rational selection of ILs with appropriate properties and thereafter advancing their macroscopic functionalities in applications. In this review, we comprehensively trace recent advances in understanding delicate interplay of strong and weak interactions that underpin their complex phase behaviors with a particular emphasis on understanding heterogeneous microstructures and dynamics of ILs in bulk liquids, in mixtures with cosolvents, and in interfacial regions.

Local Grand Canonical Monte Carlo Simulation Method for Confined Fluids

We describe a new local grand canonical Monte Carlo method to treat fluids in pores in chemical equilibrium with a reference bulk. The method is applied to Lennard-Jones particles in pores of different geometry and is shown to be much more accurate and efficient than other techniques such as traditional grand canonical simulations or Widom's particle insertion method. It utilizes a penalty potential to create a gas phase, which is in equilibrium with a more dense liquid component in the pore. Grand canonical Monte Carlo moves are employed in the gas phase, and the system then maintains chemical equilibrium by "diffusion" of particles. This creates an interface, which means that the confined fluid needs to occupy a large enough volume so that this is not an issue. We also applied the method to confined charged fluids and show how it can be used to determine local electrostatic potentials in the confined fluid, which are properly referenced to the bulk. This precludes the need to determine the Donnan potential (which controls electrochemical equilibrium) explicitly. Prior approaches have used explicit bulk simulations to measure this potential difference, which are significantly costly from a computational point of view. One outcome of our analysis is that pores of finite cross-section create a potential difference with the bulk via a small but nonzero linear charge density, which diminishes as ∼1/ln(L), where L is the pore length.

Does capillary evaporation limit the accessibility of nonaqueous electrolytes to the ultrasmall pores of carbon electrodes?

Porous carbons have been widely utilized as electrode materials for capacitive energy storage. Whereas the importance of pore size and geometry on the device performance has been well recognized, little guidance is available for identification of carbon materials with ideal porous structures. In this work, we study the phase behavior of ionic fluids in slit pores using the classical density functional theory. Within the framework of the restricted primitive model for nonaqueous electrolytes, we demonstrate that the accessibility of micropores depends not only on the ionic diameters (or desolvation) but also on their wetting behavior intrinsically related to the vapor-liquid or liquid-liquid phase separation of the bulk ionic systems. Narrowing the pore size from several tens of nanometers to subnanometers may lead to a drastic reduction in the capacitance due to capillary evaporation. The wettability of micropores deteriorates as the pore size is reduced but can be noticeably improved by raising the surface electrical potential. The theoretical results provide fresh insights into the properties of confined ionic systems beyond electric double layer models commonly employed for rational design/selection of electrolytes and electrode materials.

Ionic liquid interface at an electrode: simulations of electrochemical properties using an asymmetric restricted primitive model

We use Monte Carlo simulations of a coarse-grained model to investigate structure and electrochemical behaviours at an electrode immersed in room temperature ionic liquids (RTILs). The simple RTIL model, which we denote the asymmetric restricted primitive model (ARPM), is composed of monovalent hard-sphere ions, all of the same size, in which the charge is asymmetrically placed. Not only the hard-sphere size (d), but also the charge displacement (b), is identical for all species, i.e. the monovalent RTIL ions are fully described by only two parameters (d, b). In earlier work, it was demonstrated that the ARPM can capture typical static RTIL properties in bulk solutions with remarkable accuracy. Here, we investigate its behaviour at an electrode surface. The electrode is assumed to be a perfect conductor and image charge methods are utilized to handle polarization effects. We find that the ARPM of the ionic liquid reproduces typical (static) electrochemical properties of RTILs. Our model predicts a declining differential capacitance with increasing temperature, which is expected from simple physical arguments. We also compare our ARPM, with the corresponding RPM description, at an elevated temperature (1000 K). We conclude that, even though ion pairing occurs in the ARPM system, reducing the concentration of 'free' ions, it is still better able to screen charge than a corresponding RPM melt. Finally, we evaluate the option to coarse-grain the model even further, by treating the fraction of the ions that form ion pairs implicitly, only through the contribution to the dielectric constant of the corresponding dipolar (ion pair) fluid. We conclude that this primitive representation of ion pairing is not able to reproduce the structures and differential capacitances of the system with explicit ion pairs. The main problem seems to be due to a limited dielectric screening in a layer near the electrode surface, resulting from a combination of orientational restrictions and a depleted dipole density.