title: Layering of ionic liquids on rough surfaces.
abstract: Understanding the behavior of ionic liquids (ILs) either confined between rough surfaces or in rough nanoscale pores is of great relevance to extend studies performed on ideally flat surfaces to real applications. In this work we have performed an extensive investigation of the structural forces between two surfaces with well-defined roughness (<9 nm RMS) in 1-hexyl-3-methylimidazolium bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide by atomic force microscopy. Statistical studies of the measured layer thicknesses, layering force, and layering frequency reveal the ordered structure of the rough IL-solid interface. Our work shows that the equilibrium structure of the interfacial IL strongly depends on the topography of the contact.
authors.affiliation: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana 61801, Illinois, USA. rosae@illinois.edu.
authors.forename: Alexis
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sheehan
authors.affiliation: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana 61801, Illinois, USA. rosae@illinois.edu.
authors.forename: L Andres
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Jurado
authors.affiliation: ETH Zurich, 8093 Zurich, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Shivaprakash N
authors.initials: SN
authors.lastname: Ramakrishna
authors.affiliation: ETH Zurich, 8093 Zurich, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Andrea
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Arcifa
authors.affiliation: ETH Zurich, 8093 Zurich, Switzerland and Università degli Studi di Cagliari, 09042, Italy.
authors.forename: Antonella
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Rossi
authors.affiliation: ETH Zurich, 8093 Zurich, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Nicholas D
authors.initials: ND
authors.lastname: Spencer
authors.affiliation: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana 61801, Illinois, USA. rosae@illinois.edu.
authors.forename: Rosa M
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Espinosa-Marzal