Ionic liquid clusters: structure, formation mechanism, and effect on the behavior of ionic liquids

Abstract

The microstructure of ionic liquids (ILs) has attracted much attention due to their relevance in physiochemical properties and behavior of ILs. The existence of clusters (or microheterogeneous structure) is one of the main features for many ILs, which provides fundamental information for understanding the performance of ILs in their applications. This perspective concentrates on the recent progresses in IL clusters research. Firstly, we give a brief introduction on the structure of clusters in neat ILs and IL solutions. Secondly, the possible formation mechanism of the IL clusters is described. Then, the effects of the clusters on the physicochemical properties, interfacial properties, confined geometry and assembly processes of ILs are discussed. Finally, we address the associated challenges and prospects on the future study of IL clusters.

Exploring the bulk-phase structure of ionic liquid mixtures using small-angle neutron scattering

“…A range of models have been used to describe IL bulk structure, including ion pairs, [3][4][5][6] hydrogen-bonded networks, [7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16] ion clusters, [17][18][19] and self-assembled nanoscale structuring. 1,[20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29] The most appropriate model is strongly related to the type of IL under study, as there are many distinct classes.…”

Effects of phosphonium-based ionic liquids on phospholipid membranes studied by small-angle X-ray scattering

“…In addition, we used dynamic light scattering (DLS) and zeta potential measurements to study LUVs wt-% in human red blood cells (Lemmich et al, 1997) and over 50 wt-% of lipids in cornea (Gaynor et al, 1996). Cholesterol is known to affect the rigidity of the lipid membranes by increasing the order of the phospholipid chains (Mannock et al, 2010 (Blesic et al, 2007;Chen et al, 2014). [emim][OAc] is used here as a reference due to its known low toxicity and the widespread use of imidazolium-based ILs.…”

Nanostructuring of 1-butyl-4-methylpyridinium chloride in ionic liquid–iron oxide nanofluids

“…This phenomenon was the result of ILs becoming aligned with the electric field and subsequently being solidified by the electron beam. Therefore, the formation of nano-or microstructural organizations and ion channels in ILs has an influential effect on the performance of various IL-based functional materials [1]. These nanostructural organizations also highly enhance its electrical conductivity.…”

“…The formation of nano-or microstructural organizations in ILs has an influential effect on their physicochemical properties and performance in various applications [1]. The root cause of these structural organizations is different kinds of inter-molecular forces acting a different extent among the ions.…”