Understanding the competition between water hydrate and urea solvate interactions in sodium acetate trihydrate/urea eutectic liquids

Inorganic salt hydrate eutectics, such as the sodium acetate trihydrate/urea eutectic are of interest as materials for use in latent heat thermal energy storage systems and also a benign solvents for chemical applications being intimately related to ionic liquids and deep eutectic solvents. The objective of this study is to examine the liquid structure of this low melting point inorganic salt eutectic to understand how competition between the two hydrogen-bonding components, water and urea, leads to formation of the low melting point liquid and to provide insight into how to control and manipulate these propotties.