Near surface properties of mixtures of propylammonium nitrate with n-alkanols 1. Nanostructure

Elbourne, A.; Cronshaw, S.; Voïtchovsky, K.; Warr, G.G.; Atkin, R.

Abstract

In situ amplitude modulated-atomic force microscopy (AM-AFM) has been used to probe the nanostructure of mixtures of propylammonium nitrate (PAN) with n-alkanols near a mica surface. PAN is a protic ionic liquid (IL) which has a bicontinuous sponge-like nanostructure of polar and apolar domains in the bulk, which becomes flatter near a solid surface. Mixtures of PAN with 1-butanol, 1-octanol, and 1-dodecanol at 10–70 vol% n-alkanol have been examined, along with each pure n-alkanol, to reveal the effect of composition and n-alkanol chain length. At low concentrations the butanol simply swells the PAN near-surface nanostructure, but at higher concentrations the nanostructure fragments. Octanol and dodecanol first lower the preferred curvature of the PAN near-surface nanostructure because, unlike n-butanol, their alkyl chains are too long to be accommodated alongside the PAN cations. At higher concentrations, octanol and dodecanol self-assemble into n-alkanol rich aggregates in a PAN rich matrix. The concentration at which aggregation first becomes apparent decreases with n-alkanol chain length.

Citation

Elbourne, A., Cronshaw, S., Voïtchovsky, K., Warr, G., & Atkin, R. (2015). Near surface properties of mixtures of propylammonium nitrate with n-alkanols 1. Nanostructure. Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics, 17(40), 26621-26628. https://doi.org/10.1039/c5cp04786b

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Sep 9, 2015
• Publication Date: Oct 1, 2015
• Deposit Date: Dec 17, 2015
• Publicly Available Date: Sep 9, 2016
• Journal: Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics
• Print ISSN: 1463-9076
• Electronic ISSN: 1463-9084
• Publisher: Royal Society of Chemistry
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 17
• Issue: 40
• Pages: 26621-26628
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1039/c5cp04786b
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1424588