Transparent Gelation of Ionic Liquids Trapped in Silicone Microcup Structures under Scanning Electron Microscopy.

It is expected that ionic liquids will be used in the future as electrolytes for electric double layer capacitors, but currently microencapsulation with a conductive or porous shell is required for their fabrication. Here, we succeeded in fabricating a transparently gelled ionic liquid trapped in hemispherical silicone microcup structures just by observing with a scanning electron microscope (SEM), which allows the microencapsulation process to be eliminated and electrical contacts to be formed directly. To see the gelation, small amounts of ionic liquid were exposed to the SEM electron beam on flat aluminum, silicon, silica glass, and silicone rubber.

Near-superhydrophobic silicone microcapsule arrays encapsulating ionic liquid electrolytes for micro-power storage assuming use in seawater.

Micro-energy storage, which is convenient for combination with energy harvesting, is known to be realized by microencapsulation with various shell materials, its application is limited to land. Here, we succeeded in fabricating a silicone microcapsule array encapsulating an ionic liquid electrolyte that can store minute power in NaCl solution as well as a minute power generation method. The ArF excimer laser-irradiated silicone rubber underneath silica microspheres was photochemically and periodically swelled by the photodissociation of silicone.