Paper SS2-WeA8
The Temperature-Dependent Dynamic Solvation of Excess Electrons at the 1-butyl-1-methylpyrrolidinium bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide/Ag(111) Interface

Wednesday, October 22, 2008, 4:00 pm, Room 209

Interest in room temperature ionic liquids (RTIL's) has increased rapidly in the last decade, fueled by the potential of RTIL's as environmentally friendly 'designer solvents'. The unusual, highly ionic character of RTIL’s has motivated study of their fundamental physical properties. The dynamic solvation responses of various RTIL’s have been studied in bulk, and extension of study to the interface could prove useful to electrochemical applications. Two-color, angle-resolved, two-photon photoemission (AR-2PPE) has been used to study interfacial solvation dynamics in ultrahigh vacuum (UHV) for a number of systems. Thin films of 1-butyl-1-methylpyrrolidinium bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide were epitaxially grown on Ag(111) and studied with AR-2PPE. The well-known low vapor pressures of RTIL's afford the rare opportunity to study interfacial solvation dynamics at electrochemically relevant temperatures in the liquid phase. A pronounced increase in solvation at elevated temperatures is observed.