Effect of Electric Field Variation on Electronic and Nonlinear Optical (NLO) Properties of Ionic Liquids: A DFT Study

Abstract

The growing use of nonlinear optical (NLO) materials in various fields has generated interest in designing innovative smart NLO materials. This study focuses on three specific ionic liquids, where the same cation, 1-ethyl-3-methyl imidazolium, is combined with three different anions (Br-, C-, F-). The study explores the effects of External Electric Field (EEFs) on these three ILs using Density Functional Theory (DFT) calculations. The interaction energies calculated confirm the stability of the newly designed ILs. Applying external electric field (EEFs) ranging from 0.001 a.u to 0.006 a.u leads to a significant reduction in the E(H–L) gap, and the lowest energy gap of 4.43 eV is observed in EMIBr at field strength of 0.006 a.u. Natural Bond Orbital (NBO) analysis validates substantial charge transfer from cations to anions, with the highest transfer observed in EMIBr. External Electric field enhances the first hyperpolarizability, and EMIBr exhibits the highest value i.e 1828 a.u at 0.006 a.u. TD-DFT calculations are executed to derive electronic states influenced by an external electric field (EEF), and the highest λmax (nm) i.e. 227 nm, is observed in the case of EMIBr at 0.006 a.u. The study also determines frequency-dependent Second Harmonic Generation (SHG) and Electric-Optical Pockels Effect (EOPE), with noteworthy values observed i.e 2.0×103 and 9.8×103 respectively in case of EMIBr. In conclusion, the study provides guidelines for computationally designing efficient and thermodynamically stable complexes for optical and optoelectronic technologies. The proposed ILs could find potential applications in new electronic devices, contributing to the development of advanced NLO materials.