Use of Ionic Liquids for Synthesis and Deposition of Conductive Polymers

What is an Ionic Liquid? An Ionic Liquid (IL) is a salt in a liquid form that can be used as a solvent or an electrolyte. Certain salts like piridinium chloride, can exist in a liquid form even at room temperature - room temperature ionic liquids (RTILs). The history of ionic liquids is not a long one.They have been known to scientists only since the beginning of the 1900s, but only recently have they been widely used as catalysts, solvents and reagents. Two of the most popular applications are the electrochemical synthesis and deposition of conductive polymers. Polythiophene (Pth) is a conductive polymer used in organic electronic applications and Polypyrrole (Ppy) is considered to be suitable for such electrochromic applications.