Brookhaven National Laboratory, Chemistry Department
wishart@bnl.gov Phone: 631-344-4327 Link to web site|
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We are interested in how IL properties influence physical and dynamical processes that determine the stability and lifetimes of reactive intermediates and thereby affect the courses of chemical reactions and product distributions. Successful use of ionic liquids in radiation-filled environments, where their safety advantages could be significant, requires an understanding of ionic liquid radiation chemistry. For example, characterizing the primary steps of IL radiolysis will reveal radiolytic degradation pathways and suggest ways to prevent them or mitigate their effects on the properties of the material. Picosecond pulse radiolysis studies at BNL's Laser-Electron Accelerator Facility (LEAF) are used to identify reactive species in ionic liquids and measure their solvation and reaction rates. Parallel studies of IL solvation phenomena using coumarin-153 dynamic Stokes shifts and polarization anisotropy decay rates are done to compare with electron solvation studies and to evaluate the influence of ILs on charge transport processes. |