Clusters in a mixture of an "amphiphilic" ionic liquid and a nonionic liquid: Theoretical study

A Flory-Huggins type lattice approach is used to describe theoretically a heterogeneous mixture composed of an ionic liquid (IL) and a nonionic liquid (nIL). It is analyzed, how the behavior of the system depends on the difference in the affinities of the cations and the anions to the neutral molecules (i.e., on the "amphiphilicity" of the IL with respect to the nIL). It is proved that if the difference in the affinities is not large, two macrophases coexist in the mixture; if the difference exceeds a certain threshold value, the mixture becomes microheterogeneous: depending on its composition, it can turn either into ion clusters dispersed over the phase having low concentration of ions, or into clusters of neutral molecules dispersed over the phase having high concentration of ions. If the system is not close to the critical point, the ion clusters can be only small: the maximal ratio of their diameter to an ion diameter is of the order of ten; however, the clusters of nonionic molecules can be large, if the difference in the affinities has a certain value. It is predicted also that cavities can nucleate inside an IL, and clusters of ions can appear in a saturated vapor of an IL. (C) 2012 American Institute of Physics. [doi: 10.1063/1.3670016]