Behavior of Ternary Mixtures of Hydrogen Bond Acceptors and Donors in Terms of Band Gap Energies

Three ternary mixtures composed by choline chloride (ChCl), ethylene glycol (EG), and a second hydrogen bond donor (HBD) as ethanol (A), 2-propanol (B), and glycerol (C) were studied in terms of composition related to the band gap energy (BGE). A Design of Experiments (DoE) approach, and in particular a Simple Lattice three-components design, was employed for determining the variation of the BGE upon the composition of each system. UV-VIS analysis and subsequent Tauc plot methodology provided the data requested from the DoE, and multivariate statistical analysis revealed a drop of the BGE in correspondence to specific binary compositions for systems A and B. In particular, a BGE of 3.85 eV was registered for the mixtures ChCl/EtOH (1:1) and ChCl/2-propanol (1:1), which represents one of the lowest values ever observed for these systems.

Automated summary

Three ternary mixtures composed of ChCl, EG, and a second HBD such as A, B, and C were studied in terms of their composition's influence on BGE. DoE approach was used to determine the BGE variation, with UV-VIS analysis and Tauc plot methodology providing the necessary data. The study revealed a drop in BGE values for specific binary compositions in systems A and B.