Ionic liquids diffusion

The behavior of ionic liquids as electrolytes is strongly influenced by the transport properties of their ionic constituents. These transport properties relate to the rate of ion movement and to the manner in which the ions move (as individual ions, ion-pairs, or ion aggregates). Conductivity, for example, depends on the number and mobility of charge carriers. If an ionic liquid is dominated by highly mobile but neutral ion-pairs it will have a small number of available charge carriers and thus a low conductivity. The two quantities often used to evaluate the transport properties of electrolytes are the ion-diffusion coefficients and the ion-transport numbers. The diffusion coefficient is a measure of the rate of movement of an ion in a solution, and the transport number is a measure of the fraction of charge carried by that ion in the presence of an electric field. 

The diffusion coefficients of the constituent ions in ionic liquids have most commonly been measured either by electrochemical or by NMR methods. These two methods in fact measure slightly different diffusional properties. The electrochemical methods measure the diffusion coefficient of an ion in the presence of a concentration gradient (Pick diffusion) [59], while the NMR methods measure the diffusion coefficient of an ion in the absence of any concentration gradients (self-diffusion) [60]. Fortunately, under most circumstances these two types of diffusion coefficients are roughly equivalent. 

There are a number of NMR methods available for evaluation of self-diffusion coefficients, all of which use the same basic measurement principle [60]. Namely, they are all based on the application of the spin-echo technique under conditions of either a static or a pulsed magnetic field gradient. Essentially, a spin-echo pulse sequence is applied to a nucleus in the ion of interest while at the same time a constant or pulsed field gradient is applied to the nucleus. The spin echo of this nucleus is then measured and its attenuation due to the diffusion of the nucleus in the field gradient is used to determine its self-diffusion coefficient. The self-diffusion coefficient data for a variety of ionic liquids are given in Table 3.6-6. 

The measurement of transport numbers by the above electrochemical methods entails a significant amount of experimental effort to generate high-quality data. In addition, the methods do not appear applicable to many of the newer non-haloalu-minate ionic liquid systems. An interesting alternative to the above method utilizes the NMR-generated self-diffusion coefficient data discussed above. If both the cation (Dr+) and anion (Dx ) self-diffusion coefficients are measured, then both the cation (tR+) and anion (tx ) transport numbers can be determined by using the following Equations (3.6-6) and (3.6-7) [41, 44] ... 

Transport numbers for several non-haloaluminate ionic liquids generated from ionic liquid self-diffusion coefficients are listed in Table 3.6-7. The interesting, and still open, question is whether the NMR-generated transport numbers provide the same measure of the fraction of current carried by an ion as the electrochemically... 

It is unclear at this time whether this difference is due to the different anions present in the non-haloaluminate ionic liquids or due to differences in the two types of transport number measurements. The apparent greater importance of the cation to the movement of charge demonstrated by the transport numbers (Table 3.6-7) is consistent with the observations made from the diffusion and conductivity data above. Indeed, these data taken in total may indicate that the cation tends to be the majority charge carrier for all ionic liquids, especially the allcylimidazoliums. However, a greater quantity of transport number measurements, performed on a wider variety of ionic liquids, will be needed to ascertain whether this is indeed the case. 

In the case of systems containing ionic liquids, components and chemical species have to be differentiated. The methanol/[BMIM][PF6] system, for example, consists of two components (methanol and [BMIM][PFg]) but - on the assumption that [BMIM][PFg] is completely dissociated - three chemical species (methanol, [BMIM] and [PFg] ). If [BMIM][PFg] is not completely dissociated, one has a fourth species, the undissociated [BMIM][PFg]. From this it follows that the diffusive transport can be described with three and four flux equations, respectively. The fluxes of [BMIM] ... 

From the molecular point of view, the self-diffusion coefficient is more important than the mutual diffusion coefficient, because the different self-diffusion coefficients give a more detailed description of the single chemical species than the mutual diffusion coefficient, which characterizes the system with only one coefficient. Owing to its cooperative nature, a theoretical description of mutual diffusion is expected to be more complex than one of self-diffusion [5]. Besides that, self-diffusion measurements are determinable in pure ionic liquids, while mutual diffusion measurements require mixtures of liquids. 

Systems that are near to ideality can be described satisfactorily with Equation 4.4-4, but the equation does not work very well in systems that are far from thermodynamic ideality, even if the self-diffusion coefficients and activities are known. Since systems with ionic liquids show strong intermolecular forces, there is a need... 

Since this is just the beginning of investigations into the diffusion behavior and intermolecular forces in ionic liquid systems, further experimental work needs to be done both with pure ionic liquids and with systems of mixtures of ionic and organic liquids. 

Complete and Incomplete Ionic Dissociation. Brownian Motion in Liquids. The Mechanism of Electrical Conduction. Electrolytic Conduction. The Structure of Ice and Water. The Mutual Potential Energy of Dipoles. Substitutional and Interstitial Solutions. Diffusion in Liquids. 

The electroviscous effect present with solid particles suspended in ionic liquids, to increase the viscosity over that of the bulk liquid. The primary effect caused by the shear field distorting the electrical double layer surrounding the solid particles in suspension. The secondary effect results from the overlap of the electrical double layers of neighboring particles. The tertiary effect arises from changes in size and shape of the particles caused by the shear field. The primary electroviscous effect has been the subject of much study and has been shown to depend on (a) the size of the Debye length of the electrical double layer compared to the size of the suspended particle (b) the potential at the slipping plane between the particle and the bulk fluid (c) the Peclet number, i.e., diffusive to hydrodynamic forces (d) the Hartmarm number, i.e. electrical to hydrodynamic forces and (e) variations in the Stern layer around the particle (Garcia-Salinas et al. 2000). 

There is rapid diffusion of CO2through condensed phases, e.g., polymers and ionic liquids. 

Liquid-liquid multiphasic catalysis with the catalyst present in the ionic liquid phase relies on the transfer of organic substrates into the ionic liquid or reactions must occur at the phase boundary. One important parameter for the development of kinetic models (which are crucial for up-scaling and proper economic evaluation) is the location of the reaction. Does the reaction take place in the bulk of the liquid, in the diffusion layer or immediately at the surface of the ionic liquid droplets ... 

The answer to this question depends mainly on the relative speed of the chemical reaction vs. mass transfer of the substrate into the ionic liquid layer. If the chemical reaction is fast vs. the mass transfer rate, a significant part of the reaction will take place at the surface or in the diffusion layer. If the chemical reaction is slow relative to... 

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