XPS investigation of the vacuum interface of an ionic liquid under triangular electrical excitation for slow transients

Abstract

We report on an XPS investigation of slow transient charge imbalance at the vacuum interface of an ionic liquid, by imposing a triangular electrical excitation to two gold electrodes having an ionic liquid in between. Intensity ratio of the two N 1s peaks of the anion and the cation undergoes a total difference of up to ∼20% as the IL is slowly electrified between −5 to +5 V.