TY  - JOUR
A1  - Tao, Lumi
A1  - Liu, Yuchuan
A1  - Wu, Dan
A1  - Wei, Qiao-Hua
A1  - Taubert, Andreas
A1  - Xie, Zailai
T1  - Luminescent Ionogels with Excellent Transparency, High Mechanical Strength, and High Conductivity
JF  - Nanomaterials
N2  - The paper describes a new kind of ionogel with both good mechanical strength and high conductivity synthesized by confining the ionic liquid (IL) 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium bis(trifluoromethane sulfonyl)imide ([Bmim][NTf₂]) within an organic–inorganic hybrid host. The organic–inorganic host network was synthesized by the reaction of methyltrimethoxysilane (MTMS), tetraethoxysilane (TEOS), and methyl methacrylate (MMA) in the presence of a coupling agent, offering the good mechanical strength and rapid shape recovery of the final products. The silane coupling agent 3-methacryloxypropyltrimethoxysilane (KH-570) plays an important role in improving the mechanical strength of the inorganic–organic hybrid, because it covalently connected the organic component MMA and the inorganic component SiO₂. Both the thermal stability and mechanical strength of the ionogel significantly increased by the addition of IL. The immobilization of [Bmim][NTf₂] within the ionogel provided the final ionogel with an ionic conductivity as high as ca. 0.04 S cm⁻¹ at 50 °C. Moreover, the hybrid ionogel can be modified with organosilica-modified carbon dots within the network to yield a transparent and flexible ionogel with strong excitation-dependent emission between 400 and 800 nm. The approach is, therefore, a blueprint for the construction of next-generation multifunctional ionogels.
KW  - ionic liquid
KW  - ionogel
KW  - carbon dots
KW  - organic–inorganic hybrid
KW  - luminescence
KW  - mechanical strength
Y1  - 2020
U6  - https://doi.org/10.3390/nano10122521
SN  - 2079-4991
VL  - 10
IS  - 12
PB  - MDPI
CY  - Basel
ER  -