Phase equilibria and surfactant behavior of fluorinated ionic liquids with water

•Phase equilibria of water and fluorinated ionic liquids.•Critical micelle concentrations of fluorinated ionic liquids.•Size of the aggregates using Dynamic Light Scattering.

This work studies the phase equilibria and surfactant behavior of fluorinated ionic liquids (FILs) containing fluorinated chains equal to four carbons with water. The knowledge about the phase behavior is crucial for the applications of these novel FILs with tuneable properties. The phase equilibria of the binary mixtures FILs with water were studied at atmospheric pressure in a temperature range from (298.15 to 353.15) K. In this study, FILs containing ammonium, pyrrolidinium and imidazolium cations and the perfluorobutanesulfonate anion were included. The Non-Random Two Liquid (NRTL) thermodynamic model was successfully applied to rationalize the phase behavior of the binary (water + FILs) mixtures. Furthermore, the critical micelle concentrations (CMCs) of these FILs, which present cations and/or anions with surfactant properties were also performed at T = 298.15 K by measurements of the ionic conductivity. Finally, the Dynamic Light Scattering (DLS) was used with aim to determinate the size of the aggregates of these FILs in water.