Unraveling the heterogeneity in N butyl-N-methylpiperidinium trifluromethanesulfonimide ionic liquid by 1D and 2D NMR spectroscopy

Room temperature ionic liquids are one of the most exciting classes of materials in the last decade. In particular piperidinium (PIP) cation based ionic liquid (IL) (such as PIP14NTf2) have found application in electrochemistry/batteries. In this Letter, 2D NMR (NOESY and HOESY) is employed for studying the interactions present between cations and anions. HOESY spectrum shows that fluorine of NTf2 unusually interacts with all proton of the cation (PIP14). Combined HOESY and NOESY indicate that NTf2 anion is distributed heterogeneously in liquid. Existence of micro heterogeneity in this important class of IL is proposed.