Layer-by-layer encapsulated nano-emulsion of ionic liquid loaded with functional material for extraction of Cd2+ ions from aqueous solutions.

Ionic liquids can serve as an environmentally-friendly replacement for solvents in emulsions, therefore they are considered suitable to be used as an emulsified medium for various active materials one of which are extractors of metal ions. Increasing the extraction efficiency is considered to be one of the key objectives when working with such extraction systems. One way to improve the extraction efficiency is to increase the contact area between the extractant and the working ionic solution. This can be accomplished by creating a nano-emulsion of ionic liquid containing such an extractant. Since emulsification of ionic liquid is not always possible in the sample itself, there is a necessity of creating a stable emulsion that can be added externally and on demand to samples from which metal ions need to be extracted. We propose a method of fabrication of a highly-stable extractant-loaded ionic liquid-in-water nano-emulsion via a low-energy phase reversal emulsification followed by continuous layer-by-layer polyelectrolyte deposition process to encapsulate the nano-emulsion and enhance the emulsion stability. Such a multilayered stabilized nano-emulsion was tested for extraction of Cd2+ and Ca2+ ions in order to determine its extraction efficiency and selectivity. It was found to be effective in the extraction of Cd2+ ions with near 100% cadmium removal, as well as being selective since no Ca2+ ions were extracted. The encapsulated emulsion was removed from samples post-extraction using two methods - filtration and magnetic separation, both of which were shown to be viable under different circumstances - larger and mechanically stronger capsules could be removed by filtration, however magnetic separation worked better for both smaller and bigger capsules. The long-term stability of nano-emulsion was also tested being a very important characteristic for its proposed use: it was found to be highly stable after four months of storage time.