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.

O solvation cavity in voids of ionic liquids studied by the solvatochromic red shift of O(Δ) phosphorescence.

Phosphorescence spectroscopy of singlet oxygen [=O(Δ)] was applied to study the solvation properties of small solute molecule, O, in ionic liquids. Unlike conventional molecular solvents, the spectral red shift of the O(Δ) phosphorescence in ionic liquids from the gas phase was found to depend not only on the refractive index of solvents but also on the vdW volume of anions. This unusual spectral shift of the O(Δ) luminescence is interpreted by considering the size of solvation cavities in voids, which is estimated by analyzing the free volume in ionic liquids.

Fabrication of Superhydrophobic Silicone Rubber with Periodic Micro/Nano-Suction Cup Structure by ArF Excimer Laser-Induced Photodissociation.

A 193-nm ArF excimer laser was used to induce the photodissociation of Si-O bonds of silicone rubber in order to fabricate a periodic micro/nano-suction cup silicone structure, approximately 1 μm in diameter and 2 μm in height at regular intervals of 2.5 μm. The laser was focused on Al-coated silicone rubber by each silica glass microsphere 2.

157 nm F2-laser writing of silica optical waveguides in silicone rubber.

Silica (SiO2) optical waveguides have been fabricated on the surface of silicone [(SiO(CH3)2)n] rubber by photochemical modification of silicone rubber into silica with 157 nm F2-laser radiation. The 2 mm thick silicone was exposed through a thin (approximately 0.2 mm) air layer to generate oxygen radicals that chemically assisted in the silica transformation.