Dielectric Relaxations of (Acetamide + Electrolyte) Deep Eutectic Solvents in the Frequency Window, 0.2 ≤ ν/GHz ≤ 50: Anion and Cation Dependence.

Abstract

Dielectric relaxation (DR) measurements in the frequency range 0.2 ≤ ν/GHz ≤ 50 have been carried out for neat molten acetamide and six different (acetamide + electrolyte) deep eutectic solvents (DESs) for investigating ion effects on DR dynamics in these ionic DESs. Electrolytes used are lithium salts of bromide (LiBr), nitrate (LiNO3), and perchlorate (LiClO4); sodium salts of perchlorate (NaClO4) and thiocyante (NaSCN); and potassium thiocyanate (KSCN). With these electrolytes acetamide forms DESs approximately at an 80:20 mol ratio. Simultaneous fits to the measured permittivity (ε′) and loss (ε″) spectra of these DESs at ∼293 K require a sum of four Debye (4-D) processes with relaxation times spread over picosecond to nanosecond regime. In contrast, DR spectra for neat molten acetamide (∼354 K) depict 2-D relaxation with time constants ∼50 ps and ∼5 ps. For both the neat and ionic systems, the undetected dispersion, ε∞ – n(D)2, remains to be ∼3–4. Upon comparison, measured DR dynamics reveal pronounced anion and cation effects. Estimated static dielectric constants (ε0) from fits for these DESs cover the range 12 < ε0 < 30 and are remarkably lower than that (ε0 ∼ 64) measured for molten acetamide at ∼354 K. Hydrodynamic effective rotation volumes (Veff) estimated from the slowest DR relaxation time constants vary with ion identity and are much smaller than the molecular volume of acetamide. This decrease of ε0 and Veff is attributed respectively to the pinning of acetamide molecules by ions and orientation jumps and undetected portion to the limited frequency coverage employed in these measurements