Controllable click synthesis of poly(ionic liquid)s by surfactant-free ionic liquid microemulsions for selective dyes reduction

Abstract This work reveals the synthesis of poly(ionic liquid)s (poly-ILs) with controllable beading network structure. The synthesis route involved the formation of novel surfactant-free ionic liquid microemulsions and the in situ photo-initiated thiol-ene “click” reaction. Notably, the beading size of poly-IL's networks was adjusted by altering the component proportion of the designed surfactant-free ionic liquid microemulsion. To characterize the as-prepared polymers, FTIR, DLS, NMR, TGA, DSC, SEM and UV–vis were used, and the adsorption isotherm/kinetics studies were carried out. The results show that poly-ILs exhibit distinct adsorption selectivity and high adsorption capacity for nonionic dye disperse red (1080 mg/g), and these dye absorption polymers can be easily regenerated and recycled without a significant decrease. Therefore, the designed poly-ILs indicate remarkable potential in the application of dying wastewater treatment.