Phase behavior and microstructure of azobenzene ionic liquids based photo-responsive microemulsions

Abstract

At present, it is still a challenge for reversible regulation of phase behavior and microstructure of microemulsions with less energy input and no composition change of the system. Photo-responsive microemulsions provide a potential way to solve these problems. In this work, 10 kinds of photo-responsive ionic liquids (ILs) with azobenzene group were used as photo-responsive surfactants to form microemulsions with water and some alcohols. Factors affecting the phase behavior and sub-regions of microemulsions, such as chemical structure of the ILs, temperature, alcohols properties and UV irradiation, were studied by conductivity, small-angle X-ray scattering, dynamic light scattering and cryo-TEM techniques. It was found that azobenzene-based ILs with a more hydrophilic head group and a shorter alkyl spacer length were favor of the formation of the microemulsions. The phase behavior of the microemulsions only slightly changed after UV irradiation, however, the area of O/W and bi-continuous sub-regions of the microemulsion could be regulated by UV irradiation. At the same time, droplets size increased after UV light irradiation, and could be restored close to the initial value by alternative vis-light irradiation.