When like-charged ions attract: How OH-defects influence the size and distribution of cationic clusters in ionic liquids

This study will probe the liquid nanostructures of mixtures of two ionic liquids, 4-(hydroxybutyl)pyridinium-bis(trifluorosulfonyl)-imide ([HOC4Py]NTf2) and pentylpyridinium-bis(trifluorosulfonyl)imide ([C5Py]NTf2), which are identical except that the alkyl chain of the former is terminated by OH and the latter by CH3. Hence, ion clustering is expected in [HOC4Py]NTf2 but not in [C5Py]NTf2, which will reveal the effect of the alcohol H-bonding unambiguously. We will determine how the defects of OH groups in the H-bond network will influence the cluster distribution and the most probable cluster structures. Furthermore, we will figure out how big the anion excess has to be to break down the bigger cation-cation-based aggregates into cation-anion monomers.