title: Ionic liquids in vacuo: analysis of liquid surfaces using ultra-high-vacuum techniques.
abstract: Ultra-high-vacuum (UHV)-based techniques can offer the scientist a tremendous amount of information about samples of interest. However, until recently the range of samples that could be routinely investigated using unmodified instrumentation was limited to solid samples and frozen solutions. In this paper we report the investigation of low-vapor-pressure, liquid samples using both X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry. We demonstrate the suitability of UHV techniques in the investigation of a range of room-temperature ionic liquids, offering the opportunity to measure high-quality solution-phase spectra using unmodified instrumentation.
authors.affiliation: School of Chemistry, Centre for Surface Chemical Analysis, The University of Nottingham, Nottingham NG7 2RD, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Emily F
authors.initials: EF
authors.lastname: Smith
authors.forename: Frank J M
authors.initials: FJ
authors.lastname: Rutten
authors.forename: Ignacio J
authors.initials: IJ
authors.lastname: Villar-Garcia
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Briggs
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Licence
mesh_terms: D007477:Ions / Q000737:chemistry*; D013058:Mass Spectrometry; D015394:Molecular Structure; D012996:Solutions; D013057:Spectrum Analysis; D013499:Surface Properties; D014618:Vacuum; D014965:X-Rays
chemical_list: D007477:Ions; D012996:Solutions