Dielectric Spectroscopy of the Room Temperature Molten Salt Ethylammonium Nitrate

Abstract

The complex permittivity of ethylammonium nitrate has been measured as a function of frequency between 3 MHz and 40 GHz at eight temperatures between 288.15 and 353.15 K. The spectra are well represented by a sum of a conductivity term and a relaxation spectral function that reflects an unsymmetrical relaxation time distribution. Parameter values are given for the Cole−Davidson term and the Kohlrausch−Williams−Watts model. Molecular mechanisms in conformance with an unsymmetrical relaxation time distribution are discussed. The dominant relaxation process with a relaxation frequency in the accessible range can be explained by the formation of a small amount of dipolar ion complexes. The values for the extrapolated high-frequency permittivity indicate a further relaxation process, well above the frequency range of measurements, which is likely to reflect modes of motions of the cation and anion lattices relative to one another.