Abstract
Ionic liquids (ILs) are becoming a revolutionary synthesis medium for inorganic nanomaterials, permitting more efficient, safer and environmentally benign preparation of high quality products. A smart combination of ILs and unconventional synthesis methods allows added value to be drawn from the broad matrix of available property combinations. Mixed systems such as Deep Eutectic Solvents (DES) offer a similarly broad combinatorial playground, which is also beginning to translate into applications. Approached holistically, these liquids therefore enable new universal manufacturing techniques that provide solutions to the existing problems of nanomanufacturing, and beyond that will open completely new horizons and possibilities for controlling the growth and assembly of nanostructures. Examples that illustrate the power of ILs in the improved manufacturing of nanomaterials are explored, such as the synthesis of light phosphors with exceptional quantum yields, record-figure-of merit thermoelectrics, and efficient photocatalysts, alongside developments in DES nanostructure and deep eutectic-solvothermal and ionothermal techniques.
Highlights
Ionic liquids (ILs) are becoming a revolutionary synthesis medium for inorganic nanomaterials, permitting more efficient, safer and environmentally benign preparation of high quality products
ILs are generally defined as salts with melting points below 100 1C whose melts are composed of discrete ions
To name but a few applications, ILs have been used as replacement solvents for thermal fluids,[3] lubricants,[11] processing of cellulose,[12] biphasic chemical processes (e.g., BASF’s BASILs process; BASF was the ChemComm first to show eco-efficient chemical processes by implementing ILs),[13] photovoltaics, fuel cell electrolytes, and in separation science,[14,15] chemical synthesis and catalysis,[16,17,18,19,20] and as nonvolatile highly energy-dense materials.[21]
Summary
The benefits of task-specific ILs in this context, such as the possibility to tune phase, size, morphology, and nanostructure without using additional chemical additives. This structural picture has been experimentally validated by X-ray[44,45] and neutron diffraction studies.[46,47,48] Similar studies have been carried out for tetra-alkylammonium- and tetraalkylphosphonium-based ILs,[49] and a set of pyrrolidinium ILs.50 2D NMR (nuclear magnetic resonance) techniques have been employed for structure analysis.[51] This segregation of hydrophilic (charged) and hydrophobic (uncharged) domains is observed in the crystalline solid state of many ILs.[52,53,54,55,56] These supramolecular interactions are the origin of the thermotropic mesophase behaviour of many ILs, leading to the formation of liquid crystalline phases.[57,58]. We will explore combinations of IL technology with unconventional synthetic conversion methods that draw advantages from IL properties
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