A short review on stable metal nanoparticles using ionic liquids,supported ionic liquids,and poly(ionic liquids)

Metal nanoparticles (NPs) are a subject of global interest in research community due to their diverse applications in various fields of science. The stabilization of these metal NPs is of great concern in order to avoid their agglomerization during their applications. There is a huge pool of cations and anions available for the selection of ionic liquids (ILs) as stabilizers for the synthesis of metal NPs. ILs are known for their tunable nature allowing the fine tuning of NPs size and solubility by varying the substitutions on the heteroatom as well as the counter anions. However, there has been a debate over the stability of metal NPs stabilized by ILs over a long period of time and also upon their recycling and reuse in organocatalytic reactions. ILs covalently attached to solid supports (SILLPs) have given a new dimension for the stabilization of metal NPs as well as their separation, recovery, and reuse in organocatalytic reactions. Poly(ILs) (PILs) or polyelectrolytes have created a significant revolution in the polymer science owing to their characteristic properties of polymers as well as ILs. This dual behavior of PILs has facilitated the stabilization of PIL-stabilized metal NPs over a long period of time with negligible or no change in particle size, stability, and size distribution upon recycling in catalysis. This review provides an insight into the different types of imidazolium-based ILs, supported ILs, and PILs used so far for the stabilization of metal NPs and their applications as a function of their cations and counter anions.     

Aggregates in mixtures of ionic liquids

Surfactant-like ionic liquids (C₁₆MIMCl, C₁₆MIMBF₄) aggregate in mixtures with another ionic liquid (EAN). Critical aggregate concentrations and estimations of object sizes are given and compared to aqueous systems and other relevant literature data. The investigated mixtures are stable up to more than 200 °C and can probably be used to extend the limited temperature range of water-based colloids.     

Structural properties of ionic liquids

Two types of ionic liquids are considered: molten salts and aqueous solutions of strong electrolytes. It is shown that in both cases, modern theoretical methods are capable of making definite predictions about the spatial correlations between the ions themselves and between the ions and water molecules. It is further shown that the technique of neutron diffraction as applied to isotopically enriched samples allows, for the first time, detailed comparisons to be made between theory and experiment. The results of these comparisons are discussed and areas in which the theory is in urgent need of revision are identified.     

Microwave-assisted synthesis using ionic liquids

The research and application of green chemistry principles have led to the development of cleaner processes. In this sense, during the present century an ever-growing number of studies have been published describing the use of ionic liquids (ILs) as solvents, catalysts, or templates to develop more environmentally friendly and efficient chemical transformations for their use in both academia and industry. The conjugation of ILs and microwave irradiation as a non-conventional heating source has shown evident advantages when compared to conventional synthetic procedures for the generation of fast, efficient, and environmental friendly synthetic methodologies. This review focuses on the advances in the use of ILs in organic, polymers and materials syntheses under MW irradiation conditions.     

Polycaproamide films containing ionic liquids: Microstructure and properties

Films of polycaproamide and its composites containing ionic liquids (ILs) derived from 1-methyl-3-ethylimidazolium cation and N(CF₃SO₂)₂ or N(CN)₂ anions having crystalline structures were cast from solutions in formic acid. The structure and concentration of the ILs were shown to affect the conductivity (up to ∼10⁻⁴ S cm⁻¹ 25°C), microstructure (studied by X-ray diffraction, SEM, and AFM), and thermomechanical properties of the films.     

Electronic structures of imidazolium-based ionic liquids

Electronic structures of ionic liquids formed by 1-buthyl-3-alkylimidazolium ion [C_nmim]⁺ (n = 4 and 8) with various inorganic and organic anions have been investigated by ultraviolet photoemission, X-ray photoemission, inverse photoemission and soft X-ray emission spectroscopies (SXES). The comparison of the calculated density of states with the observed spectra revealed that the molecular orbital energies of these ionic liquids are significantly affected by the electrostatic Madelung potential among the ions. The SXES results clearly show that the both highest occupied and lowest unoccupied states of [C₄mim]⁺PF₆⁻ are derived from the cation as a result of strong Madelung potential. On the other hand, the SXES results show the valence electronic structures of ionic liquids with larger anion molecules, [C_nmim]⁺Tf₂N⁻ and [C_nmim]⁺OTf⁻ are contributed from the both cation and anion.     

Structure and diffusion in mixtures of ionic liquids

The properties of ionic mixtures of LiBr-KBr are investigated on the basis of molecular dynamics calculations, using the Tosi-Fumi pair-potentials. The determination of the excess internal energy of mixing indicates the predominant negative contribution of the coulomb energy. The position of the first peak of the anion-cation radial distribution function depends strongly on the size of the ions and its height is much influenced by the strength of the coulomb forces. It is shown that the equivalent coordination numbers vary from about 4 for the Li-Br pair to 6 for the K-Br pair. These numbers do not change very much when the composition is varied.

The ionic dynamics is analysed through the brownian-like formalism which gives a useful connection between the structure and the particle motion. Two mechanisms are involved in the diffusion process: an oscillation of the particle in the force field of the neighbouring particles and a collective mode of motion which has a longer relaxation time. The strong anion-cation correlation, which mainly affects the smallest cation, dominates when the charge ordering (quasi-lattice structure) vanishes.     

Double layer creation in asymmetric discharge

Particle-in-cell Monte Carlo code has been used to simulate the DC discharge in strongly inhomogeneous cylindrical and spherical electric fields. Such a discharge occurs in the gaseous medium between a thin wire and a coaxial cylinder, or between a sharp tip and a sphere at high voltage. The discharge threshold conditions have been specified and corresponding threshold voltage (threshold electric field intensity) has been determined numerically. The threshold voltage varies with the electrode geometry, the polarity of active electrodes, gas composition (H, Ar, N₂) and gas pressure. In case of a positively charged inner electrode, a thin boundary sheet is developed in the vicinity of the electrode, when the quasineutrality of the ionized gas is violated and the electron current is closed via the external RLC circuit. In the opposite case of a negatively charged inner electrode, a double layer is developed inside the ionized gas. Dedicated to Prof. Jan Janča on the occasion of his 60^th birthday. Presented at 23^rd International Conference on Phenomena in Ionized Gases, Toulouse (France), July 17–22, 1997. The work was supported by the Grant Agency of the Czech. Acad. Sci. under Contract No. 202/1022.     

Mesophilic alcohol dehydrogenase behavior in imidazolium based ionic liquids

The use of ionic liquids to replace organic solvents in biocatalytic processes has recently gained much attention. Despite the wide applications of oxidoreductases, there are few reports of their catalyzed reaction in ionic liquid. We have investigated the influence of four water miscible ionic liquids on the activity, stability and structure of the mesophilic alcohol dehydrogenase from yeast. Upon changes in ionic liquids concentration, both activity and stability of the enzyme were affected. As the concentration of ionic liquids increased, K_m increased while k_cat decreased. Associated conformational changes caused by ILs (150 mM) were monitored using fluorescence technique. Finally, the effects of ILs cations and anions on the enzyme activity and stability in aqueous IL mixtures were discussed.     

Surface segregation in binary mixtures of imidazolium-based ionic liquids

Surface composition of binary mixtures of room-temperature ionic liquids has been investigated using time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry at room temperature over a wide composition range. The imidazolium cations with longer aliphatic groups tend to segregate to the surface, and a bis(trifluoromethanesulfonyl)imide anion (Tf₂N^?) is enriched at the surface relative to hexafluorophosphate (PF₆^?). The surface of an equimolar mixture of Li[Tf₂N] and 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium hexafluorophosphate ([bmim][PF₆]) has a nominal composition of [bmim][Tf₂N] because of surface segregation and ligand exchange. The surface segregation of cations and anions is likely to result from alignment of specific ligand-exchanged molecules at the topmost surface layer to exclude more hydrophobic part of the molecules.     

A general ultrasound-assisted access to room-temperature ionic liquids

The replacement of common organic solvents by room-temperature ionic liquids (RTILs) is a topical subject in both academia and industry. In the last decades, the number of applications for RTILs has followed an exponential curve and spilled over the boundaries of chemistry. Still, one of the main drawbacks of these compounds is their difficult access. The present ultrasound-assisted method affords a general and easy access to a large variety of room-temperature ionic liquids.     

Studies on electrowetting of room temperature ionic liquids

This paper reports experimental investigations on the electrowetting behavior of ionic liquids in comparison with aqueous electrolytes, which is one of the important research topics in optofluidics. The effect of applied voltage on the contact angle is reported in detail. In addition, the liquid–solid material interfacial tension and the thickness of insulating layer are estimated under certain conditions. Related conclusions are valuable in the field of future electrowetting applications.     

Thermodynamic perturbation theory for multipolar and ionic liquids

We extend earlier work of ours on the use of Padé approximants in the theory of multipolar and ionic potentials. The new features are (i) extension of our work to mixed multipole terms and inclusion of polarizability, (ii) formulation and implementation of a systematic means of getting analytic approximations for all the two-body and three-body terms appearing in the theory, (iii) assessment of the ionic Padé results in the low-concentration region important in ionic-solution applications, (iv) use of the Padé in a mixed perturbation theory of improved accuracy in that low-concentration regime. The results of (iii) and (iv) are used to study the remarkable lowdensity charged-sphere critical point recently discovered by Stell, Wu, and Larsen.     

Molecular dynamics study of confined ionic liquids in Au nanopore

Molecular dynamics simulations were carried to investigate the structure and dynamics of [BMIM][PF₆] ionic liquid (IL) confined inside a slit-like Au metal nanopore with a pore size of 5.0 nm. The calculations show that the mass and number densities of the confined ILs are oscillatory; the solid-like high density layers are formed in the vicinity of the metal surface. The orientational investigation shows that the imidazolium ring of [BMIM] cations prefers to form a small tilt angle with the pore walls. Furthermore, the mean squared displacement (MSD) calculation indicates that the dynamics of confined ILs are remarkably slower than those observed in bulk systems. Our results suggest that the confinement of the Au nanopore can strongly affect the structural and dynamical properties of the confined ILs.     

Double charge layer in high-current electron avalanche

New experimental data reported in [6] allow completed electron avalanche to be represented as a double charge layer. Based on this model, qualitative explanation is given to the issues related to formation and growth of the streamer, and the structure of the ionized channel and its stability mechanism are considered. The model defines the conditions for the growth of the channel in weak fields and explains the increase in the velocity of the streamer’s motion towards the cathode.