Extending Ionothermal Synthesis

Ionothermal Synthesis is the use of ionic liquids as solvent (and potentially also as structure directing agent) in the synthesis of materials. We have developed this new method over the last two years or so. In ionothermal synthesis the reaction takes place in an ionic environment, which differentiates it from hydrothermal or solvothermal techniques where the solvent is predominantly molecular. All our work so far has concentrated on the preparation of porous materials, and we have one EPSRC grant that is ongoing to develop this synthetic methodology specifically targeted at zeolites and other porous solids (EP/C006526 'The ionothermal synthesis of zeolites and zeolites analogues'). In this proposal we aim to extend ionothermal synthesis away from porous solids to ascertain its potential in the synthesis of non-porous inorganic and inorganic-organic hybrid materials.