Reply to Perkin et al.: Experimental observations demonstrate that ionic liquids form both bound (Stern) and diffuse electric double layers.

Ionic liquids behave as dilute electrolyte solutions.

We combine direct surface force measurements with thermodynamic arguments to demonstrate that pure ionic liquids are expected to behave as dilute weak electrolyte solutions, with typical effective dissociated ion concentrations of less than 0.1% at room temperature. We performed equilibrium force-distance measurements across the common ionic liquid 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium bis(trifluorometha...

Is a Stern and diffuse layer model appropriate to ionic liquids at surfaces?

Diffuse-charge dynamics of ionic liquids in electrochemical systems.

We employ a continuum theory of solvent-free ionic liquids accounting for both short-range electrostatic correlations and steric effects (finite ion size) [Bazant et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 106, 046102 (2011)] to study the response of a model microelectrochemical cell to a step voltage. The model problem consists of a 1-1 symmetric ionic liquid between two parallel blocking electrodes, neglecting...

Self-Consistent Mean-Field Theory for Room-Temperature Ionic Liquids

Research in room-temperature ionic liquids (RTILs) has exploded in the last two decades, which are marked by an exponential increase in the number of theoretical and experimental publications in this field. The typically good thermal stability, ionic conductivity, and solvability of RTILs make them superior electrolytes in many electrochemical applications, such as metal electrodeposition and e...

Quantized friction across ionic liquid thin films.

Ionic liquids - salts in the liquid state under ambient conditions - are of great interest as precision lubricants. Ionic liquids form layered structures at surfaces, yet it is not clear how this nano-structure relates to their lubrication properties. We measured the friction force between atomically smooth solid surfaces across ionic liquid films of controlled thickness in terms of the number ...