%0 Generic
%9 Doctoral Dissertation
%A Brinzer, Thomas
%D 2018
%F pittir:33300
%K ionic liquids, carbon capture, carbon dioxide, ultrafast spectroscopy, 2D-IR
%T Ultrafast Dynamics of Carbon Dioxide in Imidazolium Ionic Liquids
%U http://d-scholarship-dev.library.pitt.edu/33300/
%X The ultrafast vibrational dynamics of carbon dioxide (CO2) were studied in a series of physisorbing ionic liquids using two-dimensional infrared (2D-IR) spectroscopy. The microscopic dynamics reported by CO2 were found to depend strongly on the choice of anion. The timescales of spectral diffusion are attributed to the breakup of a local solvent shell (ion cage) around CO2, and to correlate with the bulk viscosity in 1-alkyl-3-methylimidazolium ionic liquids. This correlation breaks for novel ionic liquid mixture with short alkyl sidechains and non-imidazolium head groups; however, the timescales of spectral diffusion are consistent with trends in ion transport (conductivity).    A semi-empirical spectroscopic map, developed from ab initio calculations, allowed comparison of experimental observables with molecular dynamics simulations. The observed and calculated frequency and reorientational dynamics of CO2 were compared, finding good correspondence. Both frequency and reorientational dynamics show multi-exponential behavior, indicating complex dynamics. Decomposition of the calculated frequency fluctuation correlation function (FFCF) into contributions from structural components of the ions confirms that the longest timescale is dominated by interactions of the anion and CO2; however, there are substantial contributions from inertial motions involving the cation's charged head group.    Temperature-dependent 2D-IR of thiocyanate ([SCN]-) and CO2 in 1-alkyl-3-imidazolium bistriflimide ([Im_{n,1}][Tf2N], n = 2,4,6) ionic liquids interrogated the energetic barriers to motions around the probe molecules and the effect of increasing ionic liquid heterogeneity on the observed dynamics. Both [SCN]- and CO2 show a strong correlation of microscopic dynamics with viscosity in each ionic liquid studied; however, the spectral diffusion of [SCN]- in [Im_{2,1][Tf2N] is offset from those of [SCN]- in the longer chain ionic liquids, potentially because of rotational motions. Additionally, both [SCN]- and CO2 show activated behavior in their spectral diffusion, with the activation barrier being dominated by the slowest resolved relaxation processes. The calculated barriers for both CO2 and [SCN]- correspond broadly to those for ion self-diffusion from MD and NMR studies. [SCN]- shows a decrease in E_a for n=6, possibly because of increasing nanoscopic polar-apolar segregation. The calculated barriers for CO2 do not show this dependence on alkyl chain length, consistent with molecular modeling of the CO2 frequency.