Double-layer and solvation forces measured in a molten salt and its mixtures with water

Measurements have been made of the force between molecularly smooth mica surfaces immersed in ethylammonium nitrate, which is a molten salt at room temperature, and in mixtures of this salt with water across the concentration range from 10 -4 M to that of the pure salt, which is 11.2 M. At low concentrations the salt behaves as a typical 1:1 electrolyte, and we measure an electrical double-layer force whose range decreases with increasing salt concentration. At high concentrations, above about 1 M, the double-layer force becomes so weak and short-ranged that it is completely dominated by a solvation force extending up to 5 nm. In the pure molten salt the solvation force is an oscillatory function of surface separation comparable to that measured in simple nonpolar liquids. No monotonic component of solvation force is found.<br />