Millefiorni, S.Tkaczyk, A.H.Sedev, R.V.Efthimiadis, J.Ralston, J.2025-12-172025-12-172006Journal of the American Chemical Society, 2006; 128(9):3098-31010002-78631520-5126https://hdl.handle.net/1959.8/43971We have successfully demonstrated that imidazolium- and pyrrolidinium-based commercial room-temperature ionic liquids can electrowet (with a dc voltage) a smooth fluoropolymer (Teflon AF1600) surface. Qualitatively, the process is analogous to the electrowetting of aqueous electrolyte solutions: the contact angle versus voltage curve has a parabolic shape which saturates at larger voltages (positive or negative). On the other hand we observed several peculiarities: (i) the efficiency is significantly lower (by about an order of magnitude); (ii) the influence of the bulky cation is larger and the importance of the smaller anion is lesser, especially with respect to electrowetting saturation; (iii) there is an asymmetry in the saturation contact angles found for positive and negative voltages. The asymmetry may be correlated with the cation-anion asymmetry of the ionic liquids. The low efficiency may be caused by the presence of water and other impurities in these commercial materials.enCopyright status unknownIonsImidazolinesPyrrolidinesElectrochemistryWettabilityJournal article10.1021/ja057606d