Analysis of the Effects of Ionic Liquid Properties on Electrospray Thruster Performance.

Ionic liquids (ILs) have proven extremely useful for a wide variety of roles, including as propellants for electrospray thrusters (ETs), due to their unique physical and chemical properties, as well as the potential tunability of those properties, through chemical engineering. However, there is a lack of literature exploring the effects of IL properties on ET operation. This paper presents experimental results investigating key physical properties of the common ILs 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide (EMI-TFSI), 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium trifluoromethanesulfonate (BMI-TFO), EAN, and Bmpyr-DCA not provided by manufacturers or reported in the literature, namely, their electrochemical stability windows (ESWs) and contact angles.