Phase Behaviors of Ionic Liquids Attributed to the Dual Ionic and Organic Nature

Abstract

Ionic liquids (ILs), also known as room-temperature molten salts, are composed of pure ions with melting points usually below 100 degrees centigrade. Because of their low volatility and vast amounts of species, ILs can serve as "green solvents" and "designer solvents" to meet the requirements of various applications by fine tuning their molecular structures. A good understanding of the phase behaviors of ILs is certainly fundamentally important in terms of their wide applications. This review intends to summarize the major conclusions so far drawn on phase behaviors of ILs by computational, theoretical, and experimental studies, illustrating the intrinsic relationship between their dual ionic and organic nature and the crystalline phases, nanoscale segregation liquid phase, ionic liquid crystal phases, as well as phase behaviors of their mixture with small organic molecules.