Preparation and properties of titania based ionogels synthesized using ionic liquid 1-ethyl-3-methyl imidazolium thiocyanate

Present study reports the synthesis of titania (TiO2) based ionogels using ionic liquid (IL) 1-ethyl-3-methyl imidazolium thiocyanate ([EMIM][SCNI) by non-aqueous sol-gel process. lonogels are characterized using N-2 adsorption-desorption, TGA, DSC, SEM, TEM, XRD, and FTIR. N-2-sorption results show that TiO2 matrices have meso-pores with uniform pore size distribution. Thermal studies reveal that thermal stability of confined IL decreases while the glass transition temperature (T-5) is found to increase. XRD patterns show that IL containing TiO2 matrices exhibit amorphous (weak crystalline peaks) nature however after extraction of IL from ionogel, it shows the crystalline (anatase) phase of TiO2 which has also been found from SAED pattern. SEM micrographs reveal that as the amount of IL is increased, TiO2 particles are found to agglomerate. FTIR results indicate that the vibrational frequencies of confined IL are found to shift due to interaction of IL molecules with titania pore wall surface. (C) 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.