Hydrophobic ionic liquids/water interfacial phase transfer induced by direct current electric field

To investigate the affect of direct current electric field (DCEF) on the interfacial phase, in this paper, a hydrophobic ionic liquid (HIL)/water as liquid-liquid two-phase binary system is established by using the deioned water and 1-butyl-3-methyl imidazolium hexafluorophosphate, and the topographies of the HIL nanodroplets and nanolayers in ambient water are observed by atomic force microscope (AFM). The results show the AFM exerting the DCEF can enhance the intersolubility of the HIL/water binary system and induce their interfacial phase transfer.