Choline-Based Ionic Liquids
on Graphite Surfaces and
Carbon Nanotubes Solvation: A Molecular Dynamics Study
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Abstract
The microscopic structure of choline benzoate and choline
salicylate
at uncharged hydrophobic graphite surfaces, and around and inside
single-walled carbon nanotubes with (10,10) and (15,15) armchair configurations,
was analyzed using molecular dynamics simulations. The reported results
show remarkable structural differences in the vicinity of graphite
surfaces (up to 20 Å) in comparison with bulk ionic liquids.
A remarkable increase of density in the region up to 6 Å close
to graphite surface is inferred, which is more remarkable for benzoate
and salicylate anions than for choline cation. Aromatic rings in benzoate
and salicylate anions lie flat at the graphite surface. Choline-based
ionic liquids show cylindrical distributions around carbon nanotubes,
with the filling of the nanotube depending on the nanotube diameter.
The distributions inside the nanotubes rely on the nanotube diameter
and are not uniform for the studied anions and cations. Aromatic rings
in benzoate and salicylate cations stay parallel to nanotube surfaces