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In Situ Probing of Ion Ordering at an Electrified Ionic Liquid/Au Interface
Author(s) -
Sitaputra Wattaka,
Stacchiola Dario,
Wishart James F.,
Wang Feng,
Sadowski Jerzy T.
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
advanced materials
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 10.707
H-Index - 527
eISSN - 1521-4095
pISSN - 0935-9648
DOI - 10.1002/adma.201606357
Subject(s) - ionic liquid , materials science , electrolyte , ion , ionic bonding , electrode , chemical physics , analytical chemistry (journal) , chemistry , organic chemistry , catalysis
Charge transport at the interface of electrodes and ionic liquids is critical for the use of the latter as electrolytes. A room‐temperature ionic liquid, 1‐ethyl‐2,3‐dimethylimidazolium bis(trifluoromethanesulfonyl)imide (EMMIM TFSI), is investigated in situ under applied bias voltage with a novel method using low‐energy electron and photoemission electron microscopy. Changes in photoelectron yield as a function of bias applied to electrodes provide a direct measure of the dynamics of ion reconfiguration and electrostatic responses of the EMMIM TFSI. Long‐range and correlated ionic reconfigurations that occur near the electrodes are found to be a function of temperature and thickness, which, in turn, relate to ionic mobility and different configurations for out‐of‐plane ordering near the electrode interfaces, with a critical transition in ion mobility for films thicker than three monolayers.