In
this work, we present a comparative study of physical properties
and CO2 solubility of two ionic liquids (ILs), protic trimethylammonium
bis[(trifluoromethyl)sulfonyl]imide and aprotic trimethylsulfonium
bis[(trifluoromethyl) sulfonyl]imide in mixture with glutaronitrile
(GLN). The effect of temperature on density and viscosity of mixtures
was studied and discussed in terms of intra- and intermolecular interactions.
Applying Glasser’s theory, standard molar entropy, S
0, and the crystal energy, U
POT, of the IL/GLN mixtures were estimated, showing a
positive contribution of ILs to these quantities. This positive contribution
to the entropy variation by the addition of an IL is because of the
fact that it destroys GLN–GLN interactions, replacing them
with new cation–GLN and anion–GLN interactions. The
deconstructing effect of S111 is greater because there
are no strong S111–GLN interactions, unlike the
ammonium cation which can establish H-bonds with CN groups.
The CO2 solubilities in both (IL/GLN) mixtures expressed
by CO2 molar fractions, x
CO2
, or the Henry constant K
H/MPa
showed that the [S111][TFSI]/GLN solubilizes more CO2 than the [HN111][TFSI]/GLN throughout the temperature
range. The solubility of CO2 is sensitive to the cation
nature and temperature. The sulfonium cation promotes CO2 solubility because it is less cluttered than the ammonium cation
unlike HN111, which is the hydrogen-binding seat (NH–GLN)
with GLN. Finally, the thermodynamic parameters such as the standard
enthalpy Δdiss
H
0, the
free enthalpy Δdiss
G
0, and the entropy Δdiss
S
0 of CO2 dissolution were calculated. They showed that
the dissolution of CO2 did not depend on the molecular
organization (small variation in entropy) but that it is linked to
the intermolecular interactions in the IL/GLN mixture, as shown by
the difference in Δmix
H.