Reorganization Energy of Electron Transfer in Ionic Liquids

Gerdenis Kodis, Mehmed Z. Ertem, Marshall D. Newton, Dmitry V. Matyushov

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

2 Scopus citations

Abstract

Bandshape analysis of charge-Transfer optical bands in room-Temperature ionic liquids (ILs) was performed to extract the reorganization energy of electron transfer. Remarkably, the reorganization energies in ILs are close to those in cyclohexane. This result runs against common wisdom in the field since conducting ILs, which are characterized by an infinite static dielectric constant, and nonpolar cyclohexane fall to the opposite ends of the polarity scale based on their dielectric constants. Theoretical calculations employing structure factors of ILs from molecular dynamics simulations support the low values of the reorganization energy. Standard dielectric arguments do not apply to solvation in ILs, and nonergodic reorganization energies are required for a quantitative analysis.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)3297-3303
Number of pages7
JournalJournal of Physical Chemistry Letters
Volume13
Issue number14
DOIs
StatePublished - Apr 14 2022

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General Materials Science
  • Physical and Theoretical Chemistry

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Reorganization Energy of Electron Transfer in Ionic Liquids'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this