Title : Eutectic-based ionic liquids: A novel medium for synthesizing metal and metal oxide nanoparticles
Abstract:
In the last decade, ionic liquids have attracted great interest both in scientific research world and amongst the most diverse technological and industrial sectors. This fact, together with the growing contribution of the industrial sector, is turning the ionic liquids into a key component for the most diverse fields of science, such as nanotechnology, electrochemistry, green chemistry, physics, materials science and engineering and many others. In general, ionic liquids are salts formed by very asymmetric and large ions, due to which they have attractive cation-anion forces weaker than those that occur in conventional ionic salts, such as table salt, which causes them to
Therefore, ionic liquids have been used as solvents for nanoparticle synthesis with a wide variety of sizes and morphologies. On the other hand, eutectic-based ionic liquids are gaining popularity as a potential substitute for ionic liquids because of their lower cost and biodegradability. The surface morphology of the ZnO NPs confirmed using scanning electron microscopic images revealing the mostly spherical in shape and some n-pointed stars and transmission electron microscopy images confirms that NPs are sub-100 nm in range. Thermogravimetric analysis verified the thermal stability with phase purity, resulting in the formation of the single-phase crystalline ZnO NPs. The high stability and dispersion of NPs in water confirms the interaction of eutectic-based ionic liquid molecules on the surface of the NPs with water. ZnO NPs incorporated in PVA thin films show strong UV–Vis absorption confirming use of these transparent thin films for UV-shielding applications.
