Preparation of ionic liquid/silica nanocomposites possessing no weight loss characteristic after calcination at 800 °C

Abstract

Tetraethoxysilane reacted with silica nanoparticles in the presence of a variety of ionic liquids such as phosphonium-, ammonium-, and imidazolium-type ionic liquids under alkaline conditions to afford the corresponding ionic liquid/ silica nanocomposites with a good dispersibility and stability in numerous solvents. It was demonstrated that these ionic liquid nanocomposites can be classified into the nanocomposites possessing no weight loss and weight loss characteristics after calcination at 800°C, respectively, according to the ionic liquid structures in the composites. The ionic liquids except for 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium hydrogen sulfate were found to afford the corresponding ionic liquid/silica nanocomposites possessing no weight loss characteristic even after calcination at 800°C.