Wetting and Tribological Properties of Ionic Liquids

A phenomenological study of the surface-wetting and tribological properties of various ionic liquids was conducted using molecular dynamics simulations. The surface-wetting capabilities of the liquids were studied by simulating the morphological transformation of an isolated liquid drop in vacuum to its equilibrium state on solid surface. The tribological properties of the liquids were probed examining their flow behaviors and viscosities in computational lubrication experiments. All liquids exhibited good surface-wetting properties, as demonstrated by the hemispherical shape of the droplets at equilibrium and the surface contact angles. Contact angles for all liquids were much lower than 90 degrees. Lubrication experiments demonstrated a flow behavior for the liquids that depended on the magnitude of the applied shear rate. Three distinctive flow regimes were observed: Newtonian, thixotropic (non-Newtonian), and oversheared. The liquids' viscosities were determined in the Newtonian regime and agree well with experimental results and with previously reported values calculated using equilibrium simulations. The phenomenological approach implemented in this study allowed for the calculation of the transport properties of the liquids and produced values within the appropriate order of magnitude without the use of calculational artifacts. These results corroborate previous reports indicating that nonequilibrium techniques represent a more robust approach for the calculation of transport properties than do equilibrium methods based on time-correlation functions.