Microemulsions with ionic liquid polar domains

Abstract

In this work 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate ([bmim][BF 4 ], an ionic liquid)/Triton X-100 (TX-100)/cyclohexane microemulsions have been prepared and characterized by phase behavior, conductivity measurement, dynamic light scattering, freeze-fracturing electron microscopy, and UV-vis techniques, and our attention is concentrated on the microemulsions with the ionic liquid as the nano-sized polar domains.

The effect of water on the microstructure and properties of benzene/[bmim][AOT]/[bmim][BF4] microemulsions

“…[23][24][25][26] Gao et al were the first to discover that [bmim] [BF 4 ] assembles in polar nanosized droplets when dispersed in cyclohexane as solvent. 11 Recently, Han and his co-workers discovered that the 1,1,3,3-tetramethylguanidinium type of ILs can be dissolved in supercritical CO 2 reverse micelles. 27 They also reported that 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium hexafluorophosphate ([bmim] [PF 6 ]) can be dispersed in propylammonium formate (PAF), another type of IL.…”

Microemulsions with renewable feedstock oils

“…2,3 Usually, microemulsions are mixtures of non-polar solvents with polar liquids like water stabilized by a surfactant, 4,5 frequently in combination with a cosurfactant -often a short or medium chain alcohol 6 -forming an interfacial film that separates the two, in principle immiscible, solvents. 7 Though they are macroscopically homogeneous solutions, an ordered structure can be found on the nanoscopic scale such as oil-in-water (o/w) or water-in-oil (w/o) droplets, similar to the structures of micelles, [8][9][10] but with droplet sizes of 100 nm. 3 Besides droplets, lamellar, 11-13 random 14,15 or bicontinuous 3,16,17 microstructures, a network of water tubes in an oil matrix or a network of oil tubes in a water matrix have been identified.…”

Nonaqueous Microemulsions Containing Ionic Liquids – Properties and Applications

“…Eastoe et al performed small angle neutron scattering (SANS) experiments on the same systems at 55°C, except that cyclohexane-d 12 was used to improve the scattering contrast (Eastoe et al, 2005). The scattering curves for different R values, comparable to the R values investigated by Gao et al (Gao et al, 2004) could well be described by a model of homogeneous diluted ellipsoidal particles, which was in agreement with IL/o structures. A swelling behavior of the IL nanodomains with increasing R value was observed consistent with the observations of Gao et al The SANS curves with the corresponding fits for ellipsoidal structures are illustrated in Figure 2.…”

“…The first microemulsion, where water has been replaced by an RTIL has been reported by Gao et al (Gao et al, 2004). They replaced water by [bmim] [BF 4 ], while cylcohexane has been used as apolar phase and TX-100 as surfactant.…”

“…In the following, the state of research on [bmim] [BF 4 ]/TX-100/cyclohexane microemulsions is discussed in detail. Different microemulsion subregions have been identified by means of conductivity measurements (Gao et al, 2004 [BF 4 ]/surfactant, was rised. The results are consistent with apparent hydrodynamic radii extracted from dynamic light scattering (DLS) measurements.…”