However, the NP-NP interaction energy is stronger for hydrophilic NPs than for hydrophobic ones and the hydrophilic particle interacts preferentially with the anion and the polar portion of the cation, which also interacts very strongly with each other by the coulomb interactions. On the other hand, the hydrophobic NPs interact preferentially with the alkyl groups of IL cation, which displays weaker dispersion interactions inside the liquid. Hence, the solvation of the hydrophobic particles results in a smaller interaction loss in the IL contributing to a less negative Δ ag G.