Polymers and Ionic Liquids: Shaping up a New Generation of High Performances Nanomaterials

The main objective of polymer materials scientists is to develop and design high performance polymer-based materials via the introduction of block copolymers ionomers or inorganic-organic hybrids in order to introduce functionalities such as mechanical reinforcement gas barrier properties fire retardancy shape memory behavior or self-healing ability. In the last ten years ionic liquids have demonstrated huge potential as new components within polymer-based materials leading to a wide range of applications. Due to their many physical-chemical properties as well as their various possible combinations ionic liquids represent a new path to produce multifunctional materials.