Recent progress in ionic liquids-based microemulsions

Ionic liquid-based microemulsions have the advantages of both ionic liquids and microemulsions, such as broad thermal stability ranges, strong solubilities, tunable structures, and physico-chemical properties. With unique structural features, ionic liquids can replace any components of traditional microemulsions, and thus find extensive application in the fields of material synthesis, biocatalysis, and drug solubilization and delivery. This paper systematically reviews the component replacement with ionic liquids, introduces the progress in the ionic liquids-based microemulsions in terms of structure, property and application, and discusses the developing trend and major challenges.