Physical-chemical and electrical characterizations of membranes modified with room temperature ionic liquids: Age effect

Physical-chemical characterization of supported liquid membranes (SLMs), that is, a porous structure containing room temperature ionic liquids (RTILs) was carried out by analyzing XPS and FTIR spectra, while determination of cation transport number from concentration potentials measured with the membranes in contact with NaCl solutions gives transport/electrical information. SLMs filled with two different RTILs (C8MIMPF6 and C10MIMBF4) were studied, and the comparison of results obtained with fresh and aged membranes seems to indicate ion transport modification for aged samples at relatively high NaCl concentrations, which could be associated to changes in the polymer matrix-RTILs interactions.