A Combined Experimental and Molecular Dynamics Study of Iodide-Based Ionic Liquid and Water Mixtures

Iodide-based ionic liquids have been widely employed as iodide sources in electrolytes for applications utilizing the triiodide/iodide redox couple. While adding a low-viscosity solvent such as water to ionic liquids can greatly enhance their usefulness, mixtures of highly viscous iodide-containing ILs with water have never been studied. This paper investigates, for the first time, mixtures of water and the ionic liquid 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium iodide ([BMIM][I]) through a combined experimental and molecular dynamics study. The density, melting point, viscosity, and conductivity of these mixtures were measured by experiment. The composition region below 50% water by mole was found to differ dramatically from the region above 50% water, with trends in density and melting point differing before and after that point. Water was found to have a profound effect on viscosity and conductivity of the IL, and the effect of hydrogen bonding was discussed. Molecular dynamics simulations representing the same mixtu...