Fabrication and photoactivity of ionic liquid–TiO₂ structures for efficient visible-light-induced photocatalytic decomposition of organic pollutants in aqueous phase

• Anna Gołąbiewska,
• Marta Paszkiewicz-Gawron,
• Aleksandra Sadzińska,
• Wojciech Lisowski,
• Ewelina Grabowska,
• Adriana Zaleska-Medynska and
• Justyna Łuczak

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 580–590, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.54

• at the surface of the IL–TiO2 material under visible-light illumination, and is responsible for the effective phenol degradation. Keywords: heterogeneous photocatalysis; ionic liquids; TiO2; visible light catalysis; Introduction The development of heterogeneous photocatalysis to degrade organic

• achieve visible-light-activated photocatalysts. Another, actually surprising, way to improve the efficiency of solar-driven photocatalysis appeared in an application of ionic liquids (ILs) for TiO2 preparation [12][13][14]. Sometimes referred to as “solvents of the future”, ILs have induced a large and

• IL. Results and Discussion Twelve novel TiO2 photocatalysts prepared in the presence of two ionic liquids containing different alkyl chain lengths in the imidazolium cation ([ODMIM][Cl] and [TDMIM][Cl]) were obtained by the solvothermal method. All samples were prepared in six different molar ratios

Facile synthesis of ZnFe₂O₄ photocatalysts for decolourization of organic dyes under solar irradiation

• Arjun Behera,
• Debasmita Kandi,
• Sanjit Manohar Majhi,
• Satyabadi Martha and
• Kulamani Parida

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 436–446, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.42

• , hydrothermal [15][16][17] solid-state combustion, sol–gel, co-precipitation, mechanochemical [18] and microwave-hydrothermal assisted ionic liquids have been reported for the synthesis of metal ferrite [10][13][19]. Recently, Sharma et al. reported the synthesis of ZnFe2O4 nanoparticles by an urea combustion

Synthesis of metal-fluoride nanoparticles supported on thermally reduced graphite oxide

• Alexa Schmitz,
• Kai Schütte,
• Vesko Ilievski,
• Juri Barthel,
• Laura Burk,
• Rolf Mülhaupt,
• Junpei Yue,
• Bernd Smarsly and
• Christoph Janiak

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 2474–2483, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.247

• 50 mA/g, including a significant interfacial charge storage contribution. The obtained nanomaterials show a good rate capacity as well (220 mAh/g and 130 mAh/g) at a current density of 200 and 500 mA/g, respectively. Keywords: ionic liquids; material synthesis; metal-fluoride nanoparticles

• nanocomposite materials in ionic liquids (ILs) to yield selectively phase-pure metal-fluoride nanoparticles (MFx-NPs) supported on the TRGO as stable colloids (Scheme 1). The used TRGO starting materials differed in the temperatures at which they were reduced (300, 400 or 750 °C) and in the presence of sulfur

Imidazolium-based ionic liquids used as additives in the nanolubrication of silicon surfaces

• Patrícia M. Amorim,
• Ana M. Ferraria,
• Rogério Colaço,
• Luís C. Branco and
• Benilde Saramago

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 1961–1971, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.197

• . Although the use of ionic liquids (ILs) as additives to base oils in the lubrication of steel/steel or other types of metal/ metal tribological pairs has been investigated, the number of studies involving Si is very low. In this work, we tested imidazolium-based ILs as additives to the base oil

• stable surface layer, which hinders the contact between the sliding surfaces. Keywords: additives; ionic liquids; lubricants; nanotribology; silicon; Introduction The use of ILs as neat lubricants was first proposed by Ye et al. in 2001 [1]. Since then, many investigations confirmed the good

• are silicon wafers b100N with 0.5 mm of thickness and a roughness below 0.1 nm. Stainless steel AISI 316L spheres with 3 mm of diameter were used as counter bodies. Methods Synthesis of ionic liquids [AMIM][Br]: 1-Methylimidazole (14.0 mL, 176 mmol) was dissolved in 50 mL of acetone in a round

Growth and characterization of textured well-faceted ZnO on planar Si(100), planar Si(111), and textured Si(100) substrates for solar cell applications

• Chin-Yi Tsai,
• Jyong-Di Lai,
• Shih-Wei Feng,
• Chien-Jung Huang,
• Chien-Hsun Chen,
• Fann-Wei Yang,
• Hsiang-Chen Wang and
• Li-Wei Tu

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 1939–1945, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.194

• (101) plane in the hexagonal lattice [12]. Furthermore, hexagonal and pyramidal ZnO composed of the (101) and (001) planes has been synthesized in ionic liquids or obtained on Si(111) substrates by RF magnetron sputtering [13][14]. Nevertheless, the growth of well-faceted pyramidal-like ZnO on silicon

First examples of organosilica-based ionogels: synthesis and electrochemical behavior

• Andreas Taubert,
• Ruben Löbbicke,
• Barbara Kirchner and
• Fabrice Leroux

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 736–751, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.77

• : ionic liquids; ionogels; organosilica; proton conductivity; Introduction Ionic liquids (ILs), that is, substances solely composed of ionic species have been studied for virtually every application from organic synthesis to lubrication and battery technology [1][2][3][4]. A particularly promising field

Formation and shape-control of hierarchical cobalt nanostructures using quaternary ammonium salts in aqueous media

• Ruchi Deshmukh,
• Anurag Mehra and
• Rochish Thaokar

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 494–505, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.53

• extended to obtain other anisotropic shapes formed by using various quaternary ammonium compounds. The quaternary ammonium salts used here are also commonly used, in their pure form as ionic liquids, as solvents [28]. In this form they exhibit structures of high directionality and were recently used as

Synthesis and applications of carbon nanomaterials for energy generation and storage

• Marco Notarianni,
• Jinzhang Liu,
• Kristy Vernon and
• Nunzio Motta

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 149–196, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.17

• and water are considered poor solvents for exfoliation [91][92]. Other solvents, such as ionic liquids [93] and chlorosulfonic acid [94], have also been proposed for exfoliating graphite but the exfoliation mechanism has been explained differently. In fact, it has been demonstrated in these cases that

From lithium to sodium: cell chemistry of room temperature sodium–air and sodium–sulfur batteries

• Philipp Adelhelm,
• Pascal Hartmann,
• Conrad L. Bender,
• Martin Busche,
• Christine Eufinger and
• Juergen Janek

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 1016–1055, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.105

• have been made including ionic liquids [55][56][57], sulfoxides (DMSO) [58][59][60], amides [61][62], and others [62][63][64]. The ether-based glyme solvents with the general structure CH3–O–(CH2–CH2–O)n–CH3 with n = 1–4 are the current state-of-the-art solvents [65][66][67][68][69], although they are

Multiscale modeling of lithium ion batteries: thermal aspects

• Arnulf Latz and
• Jochen Zausch

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 987–1007, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.102

• lattice. Different derivations are necessary for ionic liquids (mixture of positive and negative charges only) and solid electrolytes (ionic conductors). In a liquid electrolyte these are positive cations, negative anions and a neutral solvent. In conventional Li ion batteries under normal operating

Materials and characterization techniques for high-temperature polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells

• Roswitha Zeis

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 68–83, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.8

• acid and not intrinsic to HT-PEMFCs. Alternative electrolytes such as ionic liquids or solid acids might solve the problem and accelerate the oxygen reduction reaction kinetics. The benefits of operating the fuel cell at elevated temperatures include improved catalyst activity, higher tolerance to

Liquid-phase exfoliated graphene: functionalization, characterization, and applications

• Mildred Quintana,
• Jesús Iván Tapia and
• Maurizio Prato

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 2328–2338, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.242

• exfoliation of graphite in water or polar solvents. This procedure yields stable solutions of negatively charged graphene sheets [13]. As charged, intercalating species, ionic liquids are considered a green alternative. The negligible vapour pressure, thermal stability, wide electrochemical potential window

• , good conductivity, recyclability, and the high dielectric constant of ionic liquids induce the exfoliation of graphite by weakening the π–π stacking interactions. Indeed, the use of ionic liquids is considered a highly versatile and industrially scalable method for the preparation of graphene

Biopolymer colloids for controlling and templating inorganic synthesis

• Laura C. Preiss,
• Katharina Landfester and
• Rafael Muñoz-Espí

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 2129–2138, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.222

• example of a heterogeneous catalyst was reported by Taubert’s group with gold/cellulose nanocrystal hybrids produced in the presence of ionic liquids [88]. Also for catalytic applications, nanoparticles of silver, gold, and platinum were synthesized by using a cellulose aerogel [89]. Cellulose has been

Non-covalent and reversible functionalization of carbon nanotubes

• Antonello Di Crescenzo,
• Valeria Ettorre and
• Antonella Fontana

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 1675–1690, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.178

• onto the nanotube sidewalls over self-assembly. Exploiting the excellent capacity of imidazolium-based ionic liquids [78] to disperse CNTs, we conceived an ionic liquid-based surfactant, 1-hexadecyl-3-vinylimidazolium bromide (hvimBr, see Table 3) which demonstrated to be more effective than SDBS at

Ionic liquid-assisted formation of cellulose/calcium phosphate hybrid materials

• Ahmed Salama,
• Mike Neumann,
• Christina Günter and
• Andreas Taubert

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 1553–1568, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.167

• carbohydrates as single molecules or very small aggregates. At the same time the solvent should enable the growth of calcium phosphate. Ionic liquids (ILs) could provide a viable access for the synthesis of such nanoscale carbohydrate/inorganic hybrids. Some ILs dissolve up to 25 wt % of cellulose [34][35][36

Magnesium batteries: Current state of the art, issues and future perspectives

• Rana Mohtadi and
• Fuminori Mizuno

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 1291–1311, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.143

• electrolytes use ethereal solvents which are more or less volatile. An attractive choice for eliminating the safety hazards of ethers would be using ionic liquids due to their very low volatility. Reversible magnesium deposition/ dissolution from phenyl magnesium bromide [39] and alkylmagnesium bromide [40

• salts such magnesium triflate (Mg(CF3SO3)2) in imidazolium-based ionic liquids. However, magnesium metal passivation was reported to take place [39][42]. 2.1.5 On the electroactive species: In the case of typical organohalo-aluminate electrolytes, formed following the reaction between a Grignard reagent

Adsorption of the ionic liquid [BMP][TFSA] on Au(111) and Ag(111): substrate effects on the structure formation investigated by STM

• Benedikt Uhl,
• Florian Buchner,
• Dorothea Alwast,
• Nadja Wagner and
• R. Jürgen Behm

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2013, 4, 903–918, doi:10.3762/bjnano.4.102

• ]; ionic liquids; scanning tunnelling microscopy; self-assembly; Introduction In the last 15 years ionic liquids (ILs) have attracted increasing attention due to their special physical and chemical properties such as a low volatility, high chemical stability, low flammability, high intrinsic conductivity

• optimize ionic liquids for a specific application. Aside from many other applications, ionic liquids have been proposed as promising new solvents in electrochemical applications, e.g., in lithium ion batteries [8][9][10]. For the latter application, trifluoromethylsulfonyl imide [TFSA] based ionic liquids

• have turned out to be promising candidates; members of this group, e.g., alkylmethylpyrrolidinium-[TFSA] seem to suppress dendrite formation [11]. The underlying molecular processes, however, are not yet understood. Thus, a systematic and fundamental understanding of the interface between ionic liquids

Functionalization of vertically aligned carbon nanotubes

• Eloise Van Hooijdonk,
• Carla Bittencourt,
• Rony Snyders and
• Jean-François Colomer

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2013, 4, 129–152, doi:10.3762/bjnano.4.14

• traditional organic electrolytes, they used ionic liquids because of their nonflammability, nonvolatility, nontoxicity, large electrochemical window, and wide liquid-phase range. Practically, VA-CNTs were etched by H2O plasma in order to open the extremities of the nanotubes prior to an electrochemical

Characterization and properties of micro- and nanowires of controlled size, composition, and geometry fabricated by electrodeposition and ion-track technology

• Maria Eugenia Toimil-Molares

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2012, 3, 860–883, doi:10.3762/bjnano.3.97

• deposition, laser ablation, or thermal evaporation. The first template-grown nanowires of amorphous Si were recently reported by using ionic liquids [100][101]. Ionic liquids have proved to be a good alternative electrolyte to fabricate materials such as Al, Ti, Si, or Ge, which cannot be electrodeposited in

Octadecyltrichlorosilane (OTS)-coated ionic liquid drops: Micro-reactors for homogenous catalytic reactions at designated interfaces

• Xiaoning Zhang and
• Yuguang Cai

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2012, 3, 33–39, doi:10.3762/bjnano.3.4

• homogenous catalytic reactions to occur at the designated interfaces. Keywords: AFM; catalyst encapsulation; chemical pattern; ionic liquid; OTS; Introduction Ionic liquids (ILs) have promising applications as environmentally friendly solvents [1][2]. Ionic liquids are low temperature melting salts with

How to remove the influence of trace water from the absorption spectra of SWNTs dispersed in ionic liquids

• Juan Yang,
• Daqi Zhang and
• Yan Li

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2011, 2, 653–658, doi:10.3762/bjnano.2.69

• , China 10.3762/bjnano.2.69 Abstract Single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) can be efficiently dispersed in the imidazolium-based ionic liquids (ILs), at relatively high concentration, with their intrinsic structure and properties retained. Due to the hygroscopicity of the ILs, water bands may be

• spectrum. This result makes it more convenient to characterize SWNTs with absorption spectra in the IL-dispersion system, even in the presence of trace amount of water. Keywords: absorption spectra; ionic liquids; quantitative analysis; single-walled carbon nanotubes; Introduction The so-called room

• -temperature ionic liquids (ILs) are a group of room-temperature molten salts that are composed of specific cations and anions [1][2]. Compared to conventional volatile organic solvents, they are nonpolluting, recyclable green solvents with remarkable physical and chemical properties, including low melting