Energetic contributions from the cation and anion to the stability of carbon dioxide dissolved in imidazolium-based ionic liquids.

Abstract

Cation and anion effects were investigated in the energetics of CO2 solvation in room-temperature ionic liquids. The solvation free energy in 1-n-butyl-3-methylimidazolium bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide ([C4mim][NTf2]) was calculated with three types of force fields by molecular dynamics simulations combined with the energy-representation (ER) method, and the interaction responsible for the CO2 stability was examined in terms of the average sum of the solute-solvent interaction energy and its electrostatic and van der Waals components. A key role of the van der Waals component was found for the cation contribution, and the electrostatic component was seen to be minor in the anion contribution. The solvation free energy of CO2 was also investigated in ionic liquids of the form 1-n-alkyl-3-methylimidazolium bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide ([Cnmim][NTf2]) with varying alkyl-chain lengths of n = 4, 6, 8, and 12 by the ER method. The free energy was found to depend weakly on n, in agreement with experiments, and the cation and anion contributions and the electrostatic and van der Waals interaction components acted similarly at all values of n examined. The alkyl-chain length was found not to affect the local structure around CO2 strongly, and its effect on the interaction energy with CO2 appeared mainly through the bulk density.