Thermocapillary instability of an ionic liquid-water mixture in a temperature gradient

Ionic liquids have remarkable properties and are commonly harnessed for green chemistry, lubrication and energy applications. In this paper, we study a thermoresponsive ionic liquid (IL) solution which has the property of phase separating above a critical temperature, an interesting feature for the recovery of the IL-rich phase. For this purpose, we generate a temperature gradient in a microfluidic cavity where the confinement strengthens wetting effects and enhances the demixing. In this experimental configuration, we report the separation patterns along the phase diagram of the binary mixture composition. Three separation dynamics regime are identified that may display complex three-dimensional flows. In spite of this complexity, we rationalize all the observed regimes. Only two regimes lead to a complete spatial separation of the two phases. Interestingly, one is reminiscent of a Marangoni instability in radial geometry, even at confinement below 100 mu m. We believe this work will find applications in the recycling of ILs.