Ionic Liquid

An ionic liquid (IL) is a salt in the liquid state. In some contexts, the term has been restricted to salts whose melting point is below some arbitrary temperature, such as 100 °C (212 °F). While ordinary liquids such as water and gasoline are predominantly made of electrically neutral molecules, ILs are largely made of ions and short-lived ion pairs. These substances are variously called liquid electrolytes, ionic melts, ionic fluids, fused salts, liquid salts, or ionic glasses.

ILs have many applications, such as powerful solvents and electrically conducting fluids (electrolytes). Salts that are liquid at near-ambient temperature are important for electric battery applications, and have been used as sealants due to their very low vapor pressure.

Any salt that melts without decomposing or vaporizing usually yields an IL. Sodium chloride (NaCl), for example, melts at 801 °C (1,474 °F) into a liquid that consists largely of sodium cations (Na+) and chloride anions (Cl−). Conversely, when an IL is cooled, it often forms an ionic solid—which may be either crystalline or glassy.

The ionic bond is usually stronger than the Van der Waals forces between the molecules of ordinary liquids. For that reason, common salts tend to melt at higher temperatures than other solid molecules. Some salts are liquid at or below room temperature. Examples include 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium dicyanamide, (C₂H₅)(CH₃)C₃H₃N+
2·N(CN)−
2, that melts at −21 °C (−6 °F); and 1-butyl-3,5-dimethylpyridinium bromide which becomes a glass below −24 °C (−11 °F).

Low-temperature IL can be compared to ionic solutions, liquids that contain both ions and neutral molecules, and in particular to the so-called deep eutectic solvents, mixtures of ionic and non-ionic solid substances which have much lower melting points than the pure compounds. Certain mixtures of nitrate salts can have melting points below 100 °C.

The term "ionic liquid" in the general sense was used as early as 1943.