Ionic Liquid-Filled Polyamide Microcapsules Obtained by Interfacial Polymerization

Abstract

Microencapsulated ionic liquids (ILs) have a wide range of exciting properties. They can be synthesized by a variety of methods, of which interfacial polymerization represents a very simple, fast, and reliable production process, but the number of available shell materials that can be obtained by this method is limited. However, recent advances in the field of interfacial polymerization have described the formation of a polyamide membrane at the IL/organic phase interface, which is extended in this work to the first microencapsulation of ILs with a polyamide shell, providing an additional and versatile shell material. The IL-filled microcapsules are obtained using a surfactant-free synthesis process and inexpensive, low-toxicity monomers and solvents and feature an exceptionally high core-to-shell weight ratio enabling a broad range of possible applications.