Deep Eutectic Solvents at Interfaces

Deep eutectic solvents (DES) are mixtures of organic salts and hydrogen bond donors that form strongly hydrogen-bonded room temperature liquids. DES share many features with ionic liquids (i.e. tunable physicochemical properties), making them viable green solvents. Recent studies have shown they can be used as solvents for organometallic synthesis, templating of metal oxide nanoparticles and as electrodeposition solvents. All of these involve DES interactions with interfaces. AFM studies have indicated structuring of choline chloride based DES at metal electrodes. We wish to probe the molecular details of DES structures at metal interfaces using specular neutron reflectivity to determine structure-property relationships in order to understand electrodeposition characteristics and nanoparticle synthesis to facilitate rational exploitation of DES in these applications.