Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 22, 2026
Measurements of Long-range Electronic Correlations During Femtosecond Diffraction Experiments Performed on Nanocrystals of Buckminsterfullerene
Published on: August 22, 2017
Observation of surface structure of 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium hexafluorophosphate using high-resolution Rutherford
Atsushi Ohno1, Hiroki Hashimoto, Kaoru Nakajima
1Department of Micro Engineering, Kyoto University, Yoshida-honmachi, Sakyo, Kyoto 606-8501, Japan.
Abstract:
The surface structure of 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium hexafluorophosphate is studied by high-resolution Rutherford backscattering spectroscopy (HRBS) at room temperature. Elemental depth profiles are derived from the observed HRBS spectrum through spectrum simulation. While the obtained carbon profile has a sharp peak at the surface, the nitrogen profile shows a broader peak at a depth approximately 0.3 nm. These observations indicate that the butyl chain protrudes from the bulk liquid to the vacuum at the surface. The profiles of phosphorous and fluorine also have a broad peak at almost the same depth as the nitrogen profile, indicating that the anions are located near the imidazolium rings. These results are in good agreement with recent molecular dynamics simulations.
More Related Videos
11:27Studying Soft-matter and Biological Systems over a Wide Length-scale from Nanometer and Micrometer Sizes at the Small-angle Neutron Diffractometer KWS-2
Published on: December 8, 2016
10:25Sub-nanometer Resolution Imaging with Amplitude-modulation Atomic Force Microscopy in Liquid
Published on: December 20, 2016
Related Concept Videos
01:29Determination of Crystal Structures
02:18X-ray Crystallography
Diffraction
Diffraction is the change in the direction of travel experienced by an electromagnetic wave when it encounters a physical barrier whose dimensions are comparable to those of the wavelength of the light. X-rays are electromagnetic radiation with wavelengths about as long as the distance between neighboring...