An improved model for the conductivity of room-temperature ionic liquids based on hole theory

Abstract Room-temperature ionic liquids (RTILs) are ideal solvents that have many fascinating properties such as wide liquidus temperature range, negligible vapor pressure and high electrical conductivity. In this paper, we propose a model based on conventional hole theory to study their transport properties, including electrical conductivity and transport numbers. The model is developed to capture the structure and charge distribution features of ions. The calculated data by applying this model displays considerably better agreement with the experimental data. The mean difference between estimated and measured conductivity has been reduced from − 27% to − 2%. The results can also help to explain why bulky cations could manifest even higher mobility than small anions.