Application of polymer-based membranes containing ionic liquids in membrane separation processes: a critical review

The interest in ionic liquids, particularly in polymerizable ionic liquids, is motivated by their unique properties, such as good thermal stability, negligible vapor pressure, and wide electrochemical window. Due to these features ionic liquids were proposed to be used in the membrane separation technology. The utilization of conventional ionic liquids is, however, limited by their release from the membrane during the given separation process. Therefore, the incorporation of polymerizable ionic liquids may overcome this drawback for the industrial application. This work is a comprehensive overview of the advances of ionic liquid membranes for the separation of various compounds, i.e. gases, organic compounds, and metal ions.