Structure and Dynamics of the Interfacial Layers between Ionic Liquids and Metal Electrodes

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The structure and dynamics of the interfacial layer between ionic liquids (ILs) and electrode materials play an important role for many applications in the fields of electrochemical energy storage and conversion as well as electrochemical metal deposition. Based on our recent work in this field, we plan to study new aspects of the IL/electrode interface and to advance new experimental developments. One important aspect is the determination of the potential of zero charge (PZC). In the case of IL-based electrolytes, there are hardly any systematic PZC studies. Well-known methods from aqueous electrochemistry will be tested, modified and improved. Furthermore, we plan to study the influence of the interfacial layer on the charge transfer kinetics of simple redox couples in ILs. When well-known ferrocene- and cobaltocene-based redox couples are substituted with electron donating and electron withdrawing groups, redox kinetics in a large part of the electrochemical window of typical ILs can be measured. In this project, we will also set fundamentals for UHV electrochemistry. To this end, ultrapure IL films will be deposited on metal electrode by means of evaporation techniques. Finally, we plan to study the influence of dissolved salts on IL/metal interfaces as well as the structure and dynamics of IL/carbon interfaces, the latter being relevant for supercapacitor applications.