ILs Confined on Silica

The properties of ILs can also be modified by supporting them on different sohd substrates (e.g., graphite, mica, silica, oxidized silicon, etc.), a concept known as supported ionic liquid phases (SILP) and introduced in the early 2000s by the groups of Mehnert [73], Fehrmann and Wasserscheid [74]. Research done in this area has shown that the SILP strategy can lead to drastically different behavior of the supported ILs, mainly due to the interactions between the anions and/or cations of the I Ls and the solid matrix. For example, Bovio et al. showed that, by supporting the IL l-butyl-3-methylimidazolium bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide ([BMIMKNTfj]) on a solid matrix (e.g., amorphous silica, oxidized Si(llO), and mica), hquid-solid phase transitions are induced when thin films of IL rearrange to a sohd-like phase [75]. 

The interactions between the sohd support and the IL have a strong influence on the resulting properties of the system (e.g., on ionic mobility) these properties can be also affected by several factors including the way the sample is prepared (adsorption from solution [76, 77], incipient wetness impregnation (IWI) method. 

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