Structure of an aqueous poly(ethylene oxide) LiI solution from X-ray scattering

Wide-angle X-ray scattering is used to study the structure of lithium iodide in a mixed solvent of D2O and deuterated poly(ethyleneoxide) (DPEO) at 25 °C. The local structure is extracted from the measured structure function, including C-C and C-O bond lengths, C-C-O and C-O-C geometry, and Li+…O, D2O…D2O, and I−…D2O correlations. The results are compared to a recent neutron scattering study on the same solution, with good agreement found with those results. Some of the findings such as the I−…D2O correlations are complementary to the neutron measurements.