Molecular
dynamics simulations and dielectric relaxation (DR) measurements
in the frequency window, 0.2 ≤ ν/GHz ≤ 50, have
been performed to explore the heterogeneous reorientation dynamics
in [f choline chloride + (1 – f) urea] deep eutectic solvents (DESs) at f = 0.33
and 0.40 in the temperature range 293 ≤ T/K
≤ 333. The solution viscosity varies by more than an order
of magnitude. DR measurements in these DESs reveal multiple relaxation
timescalesτ1 ∼ 500 ps, τ2 ∼ 100 ps, τ3 ∼ 30 ps, and
τ4 ∼ 5 ps. Simulated rank-dependent collective
single-particle reorientational (C
l
(t), l being the rank) and
structural H-bond [C
HB(t)] relaxations can explain the microscopic origin of all these DR
timescales. The average DR times, ⟨τDR⟩,
exhibit a pronounced fractional viscosity dependence, ⟨τDR⟩ ∝ (η/T)
p
, with p = 0.1. This experimental
evidence of pronounced heterogeneous reorientation dynamics in these
DESs is supported by a strong translation–rotation decoupling
and a significant deviation of the average reorientational correlation
times (⟨τ
l
⟩) from
Debye’s l(l + 1) law. The
simulated ratios between the average rotation and translation timescales
for both urea and choline correctly reduce to the appropriate hydrodynamic
limit at high temperatures. The stretched exponential relaxations
of the simulated self-dynamic structure factors and the non-Gaussian
single-particle displacement distributions further support strong
temporal heterogeneity in these DESs. Dynamic susceptibilities from
the simulated four-point correlations exhibit long correlated timescales.
Moreover, simulated activation energies estimated from the temperature-dependent C
1(t) decays and the translational
diffusion coefficients from the velocity autocorrelation functions
agree favorably with those from the corresponding DR and the pulsed
field gradient nuclear magnetic resonance measurements.