Influence of cellulose gel matrix on BMIMCl ionic liquid dynamics and conductivity

Fast field-recycling magnetic resonance relaxometry (FFC NMR) was applied to measure the spin-lattice relaxation time, T ₁, of protons in pure ionic liquid (IL) 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride (BMIMCl) and when confined in cellulose (Cell) ion gel (Cell/BMIMCl) at different temperatures and different Larmor frequencies. The rotational and translational contributions were taken to interpret the relaxation data of neat BMIMCl and were described by Woessner’s and Torrey’s theoretical models, respectively. The ionic liquid–cellulose matrix interaction detected in 10 wt% polymer-ion gel was interpreted on the basis of a dynamical process called reorientation mediated by translational displacements (RMTD), which allow explanation of the significant slowing of the dynamics of IL cations at cellulose surfaces. Two types of cation diffusion were identified in this gel: a long-range translational diffusion within large cavities of the Cell matrix and diffusion occurring at the polymer surface. The correlational time constants and self-diffusion coefficients of the BMIMCl ionic liquid in bulk-like state and interaction with the cellulose matrix surface were determined. The conductivity measurements performed for pure IL and that confined in the Cell/BMIMCl ion gel show that the gelation only results in a small decrease of the ionic conductivity.