Ionic liquids and deep eutectics as a transformative platform for the synthesis of nanomaterials

Abstract

Ionic liquids (ILs) are becoming a revolutionary synthesis medium for inorganic nanomaterials, permitting more efficient, safer and environmentally benign preparation of high quality products. A smart combination of ILs and unconventional synthesis methods allows added value to be drawn from the broad matrix of available property combinations. Mixed systems such as Deep Eutectic Solvents (DES) offer a similarly broad combinatorial playground, which is also beginning to translate into applications. Approached holistically, these liquids therefore enable new universal manufacturing techniques that provide solutions to the existing problems of nanomanufacturing, and beyond that will open completely new horizons and possibilities for controlling the growth and assembly of nanostructures. Examples that illustrate the power of ILs in the improved manufacturing of nanomaterials are explored, such as the synthesis of light phosphors with exceptional quantum yields, record-figure-of merit thermoelectrics, and efficient photocatalysts, alongside developments in DES nanostructure and deep eutectic-solvothermal and ionothermal techniques.