Interface between ionic and nonionic liquids: Theoretical study

We use a Flory-Huggins type approach to calculate the structure and the surface tension coefficient of the boundary between ionic and nonionic liquids. The mixture of ionic and nonionic liquids is treated as a "three-component" system including anions, cations, and neutral molecules. We show that if the affinities of the cations and the anions to the neutral molecules are different, the interface comprises an electric double layer. The presence of this layer (uncompensated electric field) stabilizes the interface: the field inhibits the ions segregation at the interface and increases the surface tension. On the other hand, the short-range volume interactions promote the segregation and decrease the surface tension. Furthermore, the surface tension coefficient can be negative, if the difference of the affinities is high enough. It implies a possibility of microphase separation of the system.