Uniform Metal (Hydr)Oxide Particles from Water/Ionic Liquid Precursor (ILP) Mixtures

Abstract

We have recently shown that the hydrated ionic liquid tetrabutylammonium hydroxide (TBAH) is an efficient ionic liquid precursor (ILP) for the fabrication of ZnO/carbohydrate materials (D. Mumalo-Djokic, W. B. Stern, A. Taubert, Cryst. Growth Des. 2008, 8, 330). The current paper shows that ZnO is just one example out of the large group of technologically important metal (hydr)oxides that can be made using TBAH. Simply by using different metal acetates as precursors in TBAH, it is possible to make a wide variety of metal (hydr)oxides with well-defined size, morphology, and chemical composition. It is also possible to dope metal oxide particles or to synthesize mixed metal oxide particles, and therefore to control properties like magnetism.

Oxide Nanomaterials: Synthetic Developments, Mechanistic Studies, and Technological Innovations

“…[208] were obtained from co-precipitation of the metal acetates with TBAH and these as-synthesized nanoparticular ferrites showed different magnetic behavior: the cobalt ferrite particles (11 nm) are ferromagnetic up to 400 K, whereas the smaller nickel ferrite particles (8 nm) exhibit superparamagnetism with a blocking temperature of 23 K. The NiFe 2 O 4 particles meet the size criterion for the onset of superparamagnetism (particle sizes below 10 nm) and their properties are confirmed by the absence of temperature dependence in the EPR spectra between 100 and 273 K, contrary to the behavior of larger CoFe 2 O 4 particles. [209] LiFePO 4 is another oxide-based material with tremendous application potential in battery technology. Different nanoscale morphologies of LiFePO 4 could be obtained through an elegant approach based on the dual function of ILs as solvents and growth templates.…”

Structural studies of ionic liquid-modified microemulsions

“…Noteworthy, that ionic liquids [37][38][39] as well as polyelectrolyte-modified microemulsions [40,41] can be successfully used as a reaction medium for the nanoparticle formation. The given multi-component microemulsion systems can be used for example as a template phase for the synthesis of well designed gold nanoparticles, which are of special interest, e.g.…”

Ionic liquid-modulated preparation of hexagonal tungsten trioxide mesocrystals for lithium-ion batteries

“…Thus, it is still a great challenge to prepare mesocrystalline electrodes by a facile and environment-friendly route. [22][23][24] Among various metal oxides, hexagonal tungsten trioxide (h-WO 3 ), is of particular interest owing to its well-known tunnel structures and has been widely investigated, especially as an intercalation host for hexagonal tungsten bronzes M x WO 3 (M = Li + , Na + , K + , etc.) and a promising anode materials for lithium-ion batteries.…”