Secondary Electron Emission Yields of Imidazolium-Based Ionic Liquids

The electron-induced secondary electron emission (SEE) yield of imidazolium-based ionic liquids are presented for primary electron beam energies between 30 and 1000 eV. These results are important for plasma-synthesis of nanoparticles in DC discharges operating with an ionic liquid electrode. As a result of their low vapor pressure and high conductivity, ionic liquids can be combined with low pressure plasmas to produce metal nanoparticles through the reduction of dissolved metal salts by the reactive species in the plasma. In this work, the low vapor pressure of ionic liquids is exploited to make direct measurements of the SEE yield by bombarding the liquid with electrons and measuring the resulting currents.