[20p-A205-1~13] 6.6 Probe Microscopy

[20p-A205-1] High-resolution imaging of interfacial structure between an ionic liquid and a polar alkali halide surface using qPlus AFM

〇(DC)Yifan Bao¹, Touma Kawano¹, Takashi Ichii¹, Toru Utsunomiya¹, Hiroyuki Sugimura¹ (1.Kyoto Univ.)

Keywords:Ionic liquid, Atomic force microscopy (AFM), Liquid/solid interface

Room temperature ionic liquids (RTILs), a new class of ionic salts which are liquids under room temperature, have been employed in various applications at charged interfaces (e.g., catalysis, electrochemistry, lubrication, and crystal growth). Understanding the nature of RTIL/solid interfaces is essential to determine and engineer their properties. However, these interfaces are still relatively poorly known at the atomic scale. In this study, an interface between a polar RbI(111) surface and 1-methyl-1-propylpyrrolidinium bis(trifluromethanesulfonyl)imide (Py13-TFSI) was used as a model system, and frequency-modulation atomic force microscopy (FM-AFM) utilizing quartz tuning fork (qPlus) sensor, which is capable of atomic-resolution imaging even in viscous IL, was used to investigate the interfacial structure. Alkali halide (111) surfaces are fundamentally unstable and only few studies related to experimental investigation of the liquid/alkali halide(111) interfaces are available. Structural analysis on such interfaces would be expected to help us understand the atomistic nature of RTIL/solid interfaces.