Preparation of Inorganic Materials Using Ionic Liquids

Abstract

Conventional synthesis of inorganic materials relies heavily on water and organic solvents. Alternatively, the synthesis of inorganic materials using, or in the presence of, ionic liquids represents a burgeoning direction in materials chemistry. Use of ionic liquids in solvent extraction and organic catalysis has been extensively studied, but their use in inorganic synthesis has just begun. Ionic liquids are a family of non-conventional molten salts that can act as templates and precursors to inorganic materials, as well as solvents. They offer many advantages, such as negligible vapor pressures, wide liquidus ranges, good thermal stability, tunable solubility for both organic and inorganic molecules, and much synthetic flexibility. In this Review, the use of ionic liquids in the preparation of several categories of inorganic and hybrid materials (i.e., metal structures, non-metal elements, silicas, organosilicas, metal oxides, metal chalcogenides, metal salts, open-framework structures, ionic liquid-functionalized materials, and supported ionic liquids) is summarized. The status quo of the research field is assessed, and some future perspectives are furnished.

Canopy Dynamics in Nanoscale Ionic Materials

“…The ability to tailor multiple components makes NIMS a particularly versatile class of nanomaterials that can be designed to meet the specific requirements of many diverse materials and device applications. Consequently, NIMS are promising candidates for thermal management materials, [12][13][14][15][16][17][18] nanocomposite materials, novel reaction solvents, [19][20] magnetic fluids, [21][22] and conductive lubricants. [6][7][8] For example, our laboratory has reported on Au-and Pt-based NIMS employed as conductive lubricants that markedly improved the durability of RF-MEMS contacts.…”

Controlled self-assembly of amphiphiles in ionic liquids and the formation of ionogels by molecular tuning of cohesive energies

“…5 Some recent studies also highlighted their use in inorganic synthesis, [6][7][8][9] hybridization with nanocarbons 10,11 and molecular self-assembly. [12][13][14][15] One of the advantageous features of ILs for their application in supramolecular chemistry is expressed in terms of solvent engineering, that is, the properties of ILs can be readily tuned based on their molecular structures.…”

Synthesis of Micronsized Gold Nanoplates at Low Precursor Concentration Using Ionic Liquid as Novel Subphase Solvent

“…ILs are a family of non-conventional molten salts that can act as templates and precursors to inorganic materials, as well as solvents [11]. The room-temperature ILs were used to prepare the gold nanostructures widely [12]- [14].…”