Nanoscale density fluctuations in ionic liquid binary mixtures with nonamphiphilic compounds: first experimental evidence

A complex mesoscopic organization is observed in systems containing ethylammonium nitrate (EAN) and two nonamphiphilic compounds, using wide and small angle X-ray scattering and molecular dynamics simulations. The macroscopically homogeneous mixtures exhibit a separation where an ionic liquid-rich region is percolating a molecular liquid-rich one, but no unmixing is observed. This effect was already reported in EAN−alcohol mixtures, but the models proposed so far cannot explain this behavior for a nonamphiphilic compound.