Ionic
liquid crystals have emerged as a new class of functional
soft materials in the last two decades, and they exhibit synergistic
characteristics of ionic liquids and liquid crystals such as macroscopic
orientability, miscibility with various species, phase stability,
nanostructural tunability, and polar nanochannel formation. Owing
to these characteristics, the structures, properties, and functions
of ionic liquid crystals have been a hot topic in materials chemistry,
finding various applications including host frameworks for guest binding,
separation membranes, ion-/proton-conducting membranes, reaction media,
and optoelectronic materials. Although several excellent review articles
of ionic liquid crystals have been published recently, they mainly
focused on the fundamental aspects, structures, and specific properties
of ionic liquid crystals, while these applications of ionic liquid
crystals have not yet been discussed at one time. The aim of this
feature article is to provide an overview of the applications of ionic
liquid crystals in a comprehensive manner.