Non-ideal mixing behaviour of hydrogen bonding in mixtures of protic ionic liquids.

Ionic liquids (ILs) attract interest in science and technology as a result of their unique properties. Binary and ternary mixtures of ILs significantly increase the number of possible cation/anion combinations, resulting in targeted physical and chemical properties. In this work, we study the mixing behaviour of two protic ILs: triethyl ammonium methylsulfonate [Et3 NH][CH3 SO3 ] and triethylammonium triflate [Et3 NH][CF3 SO3 ]. We find a characteristic deviation from ideal mixing by means of low-frequency infrared spectroscopy. By using molecular dynamics simulations, we explain this behaviour as being the result of different strengths of anion/cation hydrogen bonding. This non-ideality of non-random H-bond mixing is also reflected in macroscopic properties such as the viscosity. Mixing suitable ILs may, thus, result in new ILs with targeted physical properties.