Charging of ionic liquid surfaces under X-ray irradiation: the measurement of absolute binding energies by XPS

Ionic liquid surfaces can become electrically charged during X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy experiments, due to the flux of photoelectrons leaving the surface. This causes a shift in the measured binding energies of X-ray photoelectron peaks that depends on the magnitude of the surface charging. Consequently, a charge correction method is required for ionic liquids. Here we demonstrate the nature and extent of surface charging in ionic liquids and model it using chronopotentiometry. We report the X-ray photoelectron spectra for a range of imidazolium based ionic liquids and investigate the use of long alkyl chains (CnH2n+1, n >= 8) and the imidazolium nitrogen, both of which are part of the ionic liquid chemical structure, as internal references for charge correction. Accurate and reproducible binding energies are obtained which allow comparisons to be made across ionic liquid-based systems.