Electrocatalysis on ionic liquids : defining experimental conditions
Abstract
The use of room temperature ionic liquids (ILs) for electrocatalytic purposes is a relatively new and
promising field that emerged in Electrochemistry on the past few years [1-3]. However, to fully
understand the role played by the ILs from an electrocatalytic point of view, it is of outstanding
importance controlling some critical experimental parameters including water content, temperature and
chemical nature of the IL, among others [4]. In the present communication, we evaluate different pretreatments
to minimize the water content on different imidazolium based ILs. However, this initial water
content must be also kept under control during the specific electrocatalytic experiments. In this regard, we
will show that for relevant electrochemical reactions such as CO2 electroreduction or even for
deoxygenating purposes (through argon bubbling), the use of gas filters is indispensable to control the
water content during the experiments. All these experimental conditions will allow the role of the ILs to
be better understood.