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

Abstract Present study reports the synthesis of titania (TiO 2 ) based ionogels using ionic liquid (IL) 1-ethyl-3-methyl imidazolium thiocyanate ([EMIM][SCN]) by non-aqueous sol-gel process. Ionogels are characterized using N 2 adsorption-desorption, TGA, DSC, SEM, TEM, XRD, and FTIR. N 2 -sorption results show that TiO 2 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 g ) is found to increase. XRD patterns show that IL containing TiO 2 matrices exhibit amorphous (weak crystalline peaks) nature however after extraction of IL from ionogel, it shows the crystalline (anatase) phase of TiO 2 which has also been found from SAED pattern. SEM micrographs reveal that as the amount of IL is increased, TiO 2 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.