Abstract
Ionic liquids (ILs) are the safest solvent in various high-temperature applications due to their non-flammable properties. In order to obtain their thermal stability properties, thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) is extensively used to analyze the kinetics of the thermal decomposition process. This review summarizes the different kinetics analysis methods and finds the isoconversional methods are superior to the Arrhenius methods in calculating the activation energy, and two tools—the compensation effect and master plots—are suggested for the calculation of the pre-exponential factor. With both parameters, the maximum operating temperature (MOT) can be calculated to predict the thermal stability in long-term runnings. The collection of thermal stability data of ILs with divergent cations and anions shows the structure of cations such as alkyl side chains, functional groups, and alkyl substituents will affect the thermal stability, but their influence is less than that of anions. To develop ILs with superior thermal stability, dicationic ILs (DILs) are recommended, and typically, [C4(MIM)2][NTf2]2 has a decomposition temperature as high as 468.1 °C. For the convenience of application, thermal stability on the decomposition temperature and thermal decomposition activation energy of 130 ILs are summarized at the end of this manuscript.
Highlights
Ionic liquids (ILs) are molten salts at room temperature composed of organic cations and organic/inorganic anions [1,2]
The methods measuring the thermal stability of ILs are discussed
Tonset overestimates the thermal stability, it is still used as a universal parameter in different investigations
Summary
Ionic liquids (ILs) are molten salts at room temperature composed of organic cations and organic/inorganic anions [1,2]. ILs have many advantages, including non-volatility, non-flammability, high thermal and chemical stability, wide electrochemical window, tunable miscibility, and good extraction capability, which are not attained for the volatile organic solvents [6,7,8]. As a result of these features and advantages, ILs are used in a wide range of applications such as catalyst [9,10,11,12,13,14], pre-treatment of biomass [15,16,17], absorbent [18,19,20], gas sensors [21], electrolyte [22,23,24], and membrane separation [25,26,27]. ILs are generally considered to be thermally stable, yet their stability is influenced seriously by a lot of factors
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