An electronically polarizable model has been developed for the ionic liquid 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium nitrate (EMIM + /NO 3 -). Molecular dynamics simulation studies were then performed on both the polarizable and nonpolarizable versions of the model. Comparisons of shear viscosity and diffusion constants at 400 K show that the effects of polarizability are quite substantial and the polarizable model results are in better agreement with the experimental values.

Understanding the physical properties of ionic liquids (ILs) via computer simulation is important for their potential technological applications. The goal of our IL research is to obtain a unified understanding of the properties of ILs with respect to their underlying molecular structure. From atomistic molecular dynamics simulations, the many-body electronic polarization effect was found to be important for modeling ILs, especially their dynamics. The multiscale coarse-graining methodology has also been employed to increase the simulation speed by a factor of 100 or more, thereby making it possible to study the mesoscopic behavior of ILs by computer simulations. With these simulation techniques, ILs with an amphiphilic cation were found to exhibit a spatial heterogeneity due to the aggregation of their nonpolar alkyl tails. This spatial heterogeneity is a key feature in interpreting many physical phenomena of ILs, such as their heterogeneous self-diffusion and surface layering, as well as their surfactant-like micelles formed in IL/water mixtures.

Molecular dynamics simulations for the liquid-vacuum interface of the ionic liquid 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium nitrate (EMIM+/NO3-) were performed for both electronically polarizable and nonpolarizable potential energy surfaces. The interfacial structural properties, such as the oscillation in the number density profile, the orientational ordering, and the local clustering in the interfacial region, were calculated. The simulations with both the polarizable and nonpolarizable model demonstrate the existence of an inhomogeneous interfacial structure normal to the surface layer. It was found for both models that the ethyl tail group on EMIM+ is likely to protrude outward from the surface. In the outmost surface layer, the cation is likely to lie on the surface with the imidazolium ring parallel to the interface, while there is a second region with enhanced density from that in the bulk where the cation preferably slants with the imidazolium ring tending to be perpendicular to the surface. The results also reveal that the electronic polarization effect is important for the ionic liquid interface. It is found that the cation is likely to be segregated at the ionic liquid surface for the polarizable model, while for the nonpolarizable model, the anion is found to be more likely to exhibit such behavior. The surface tension of the polarizable model (58.5 +/- 0.5 mN/m) is much smaller than that of the nonpolarizable model (82.7 +/- 0.6 mN/m), in better agreement with extrapolated experimental measurements on similar ionic liquid systems.