Enhanced molecular transport in two-dimensional nanoconfined ionic liquids

As a sustainable and environmental-friendly solvent with broad solubility, ionic liquids (ILs) have been utilized as a common medium to dissolve small molecules for industrial and biological applications The performance of these applications is inevitably affected by the transport behaviors of small molecules in ILs Here we present a promising method to acquire significantly accelerated transport of small molecules in ILs by confining ILs in two-dimensional nanochannels. The diffusion behavior of the chosen indicator, ferrocene, was enhanced by up to 40-fold in graphene oxide composed nanochannels compared with bulk systems. Modeling suggests the elevated molecular transport in ILs ascribes to the highly-ordered distribution and depressed interplay of nanoconfined ILs. This phenomenon offers a promising platform to manufacture novel devices of ultrafast molecular transport.