Malgorzata SWADZBA-KWASNY1, James HOGG1, Rachel WHITESIDE1, Janine RICHTER2, Peter NOCKEMANN1, Miryam ARREDONDO-ARCHAVALA1, Beth MURRAY1, Praveen KUMAR1
1Queen's University Belfast, Belfast, United Kingdom
2TU Dresden, Dresden, Germany
Liquid coordination complexes (LCCs), also known as ionic liquids analogues, are materials based on metal coordination complexes that are intrinsically liquid. Like halometallate ionic liquids they have high metal content and are of interest in electrochemistry and Lewis acid catalysis. In contrast to hallometalates, they do not have a spectator organic cation, but consist of a mixture of anionic, cationic and charge-neutral coordination complexes.
Our group has long studied speciation of LCCs, using a range of spectroscopic techniques [1], and their catalytic applications [2]. Here, we report our recent work on the synthesis of inorganic materials, in particular metal chalcogenides, from these media. We have studied the influence of metal, ligand, liquid-phase speciation, reaction conditions, and the type of heating (conventional vs. microwave) on the product formation. Furthermore, we present in operando TEM microscopic studies of the nanoparticles formation (Fig 1).