Microscopic insights on the structural and dynamical aspects of Imidazolium-based surface active ionic liquid micelles

Ionic liquids have drawn vast attention due to their extraordinary physicochemical properties and their relevance in a wide range of applications. As a result of their inherent amphiphilic nature, many ionic liquids are emerging as novel surfactants, being referred to as surface active ionic liquids (SAILs). Under suitable conditions in aqueous solution, these SAILs self-assemble to form nanostructures such as micelles and vesicles. Here, we report on the structure and dynamics of one such SAIL micellar system, 1-Decyl-3-methylimidazolium Bromide (DMIMBr), as studied using fully atomistic molecular dynamics (MD) simulation and quasi-elastic neutron scattering (QENS). Results are compared with a conventional surfactant, dodecyltrimethylammonium bromide (DTAB) micelles. MD simulations showed that while the structure of the DMIMBr micelle is very similar to that of DTAB, the conformational flexibility of the alkyl chains is starkly different. The alkyl chains in the SAIL are more ordered, having fewer gauche defects. This is consistent with experimental results obtained using QENS which also showed slower alkyl chain segmental dynamics. MD results also show restricted dynamics of the hydration water in DMIMBr micelles, of a sub-diffusive nature, suggesting stronger affinity of water molecules to the imidazolium moiety. Thus the decreased flexibility in the alkyl chains could arise from the slower hydration dynamics. In contrast, the lateral motion of the surfactant is found to be relatively faster in DMIMBr micelles than in DTAB micelles. The understanding gained from this study provides a microscopic insight about the dynamical aspects of SAIL micelles, which might be useful for related applications including micellar catalysis and nanoparticle synthesis.