Solubility of neutral and charged polymers in ionic liquids studied by laser light scattering

The solubility and chain conformation of different types of homopolymers in low viscosity ionic liquids (ILs), 1-allyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride ([AMIM][Cl]) at 50 °C and 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium formate ([BMIM][COOH]) at 25 °C, were studied by laser light scattering (LLS). For neutral polymers, such as polyvinyl alcohol and polysulfonamide, aggregation occurred in all the cases except for polyvinyl alcohol in [BMIM][COOH]. For negative polyelectrolytes, such as DNA and polystyrene sulfonate, single chain conformation was observed. However, the hydrodynamic radius of both polymers was much smaller than that in good solvents, suggesting that the chains were condensed. Cellulose was soluble in [AMIM][Cl], and non-diffusive mode was observed by dynamic light scattering. Zeta potential analysis indicated that cellulose exhibited the feature of polyelectrolyte. The solubility of homopolymers could be qualitatively explained by treating polymer/IL as a ternary system: polymer, cation, and anion. It was the mutual interactions determined the solubility and conformation of polymers in ILs.