Structure of Betaine-Glycerol Deep Eutectic Solvents with Iron Ions

Deep euetctic solvents (DES) are an emerging group of hydrogen bonding solvents, which have garnered interest due to their greener and highly tuneable nature. Most studies have focused on halogen containing DES, and the halide ion has been identified as a significant contributor to both the solvent structure and solvation processes. But these DES can be unsuitable for applications such as catalysis due to catalyst poisoning, and here we aim to investigate the processes behind the solvation of iron nitrate in the halogen free DES betaine:glycerol (molar ratio of 1:3). We aim to compare this to the neat DES structure previously studied by us. Through in situ measurements we will also investigate the structure and processes during iron oxide nanoparticle formation, to form a comprehensive image of the system together with the in situ EXAFS measurements we have collected for this system.