Development Of Ionic Liquids Research Articles

Ionic Liquid-Catalyzed CO2 Conversion for Valuable Chemicals.

CO2 is not only the main gas that causes the greenhouse effect but also a resource with abundant reserves, low price, and low toxicity. It is expected to become an important "carbon source" to replace oil and natural gas in the future. The efficient and clean resource utilization of CO2 has shown important scientific and economic value. Making full use of abundant CO2 resources is in line with the development direction of green chemistry and has attracted the attention of scientists. Environmentally friendly ionic liquids show unique advantages in the capture and conversion of CO2 due to their non-volatilization, designable structure, and good solubility, and show broad application prospects. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the research on the use of an ionic liquid as a catalyst to promote the synthesis of various value-added chemicals in CO2, hoping to make full use of CO2 resources while avoiding the defects of the traditional synthesis route, such as the use of highly toxic raw materials, complicated operation, or harsh reaction conditions. The purpose of this paper is to provide reference for the application and development of ionic liquids in CO2 capture and conversion.

Emerging Role of Ionic Liquids in the Fabric Industry

Abstract: Profitable interest in the pervasive packaging of ionic liquids has continued to increase due to its several advantages and environmentally pleasant nature. Fabric enterprise is stated to be the most important enterprise as a result of a rapid increase in the populace across the globe. Certain ionic beverages can dissolve textile fibers. Therefore, ionic liquids are doubtlessly appropriate for material production and recycling. The dyeing of fabric substances involves numerous financial and ecological risks, resulting in an excessive intake of water, power, and chemicals. Ionic liquids surpass through their extraordinarily low vapor pressure, which enables them to deal with commonly used natural solvents. Moreover, ionic liquids display excessive temperature-associated dielectric constants, consequently displaying top-notch solvent strength for distinct fabric-associated substances, inclusive of silicones, keratin, and cellulose. This article provides a brief review of the pertinent literature that focuses on historical patterns and practical commercial applications of ionic liquids before moving on to current developments in ionic liquids and the fabric industry.

Recent advances in the development and application of effervescence-assisted microextraction techniques

Effervescence-assisted microextraction (EAM) is a novel sample pretreatment method based on the reaction of CO2 and H+ donors to generate CO2 bubbles and promote rapid dispersion of the extractant. During this process, the unique dispersion method increases the contact area between the target molecule and the extraction solvent, and the adsorption/extraction efficiency of the adsorbent/extractant toward the target molecule is also enhanced. The EAM technique is of particular interest due its convenient application, low running costs, reduced solvent consumption, high extraction efficiency, and environmental friendliness. Benefiting from the rapid development of extractants, the evolution and application of the EAM technology is becoming more tuned and diversified. Indeed, the synthesis of new extractants, such as nanomaterials with multi-pore structures, large specific surface areas, and rich active sites, has attracted extensive attention, as has the development of ionic liquids with strong extraction abilities and high selectivities. As a result, the EAM technology has been widely applied to the pretreatment of target compounds in various samples, such as food, plant, biological, and environmental samples. However, since these samples often contain polysaccharides, peptides, proteins, inorganic salts, and other interfering substrates, it is necessary to remove some of these substances prior to extraction by EAM. This is commonly achieved using methods such as vortexing, centrifugation, and dilution, among others. The treated samples can then be extracted using the EAM method prior to detection using high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), gas chromatography (GC), and atomic absorption spectroscopy (AAS) to detect substances such as heavy metal ions, pesticide residues, endocrine-disrupting compounds (EDCs), and antibiotics. Using effervescence as a novel assisted method for the dispersion of solvents or adsorbents, the concentrations of Pb2+, Cd2+, Ni2+, Cu2+, bisphenol, estrogen, and the pyrethyl pesticides have previously been successfully determined. Moreover, many influencing factors have been evaluated during method development, including the composition of the effervescent tablet, the solution pH, the extraction temperature, the type and mass/volume of extractant, the type of eluent, the eluent concentration, the elution time, and the regeneration performance. Generally, the cumbersome single factor optimization and multi-factor optimization methods are also required to determine the optimal experimental conditions. Following determination of the optimal experimental conditions, the EAM method was validated by a series of experimental parameters including the linear range, the correlation coefficient (R2), the enrichment factor (EF), the limit of detection (LOD), and the limit of quantification (LOQ). In addition, the use of this method has been demonstrated in actual sample testing, and the obtained results have compared with those achieved using similar detection systems and methods to ultimately determine the accuracy, feasibility, and superiority of the developed method. In this paper, the construction of an EAM method based on nanomaterials, ionic liquids, and other emerging extractants is reviewed, wherein the preparation method, application range, and comparison of similar extractants were evaluated for the same extraction system. In addition, the current state-of-the-art in relation to EAM research and application when combined with HPLC, cold flame AAS, and other analytical techniques is summarized in terms of the detection of harmful substances in complex matrices. More specifically, the samples evaluated herein include dairy products, honey, beverages, surface water, vegetables, blood, urine, liver, and complex botanicals. Furthermore, issues related to the application of this technology are analyzed, and its future development trend in the field of microextraction is forecasted. Finally, the application prospects of EAM in the analysis of various pollutants and components are proposed to provide reference for monitoring pollutants in food, environmental, and biological samples.

Experimental investigation on the thermophysical properties of the ionic liquid-based binary system for heat transfer applications

Based on the innovation in the development of ionic liquids, the aim of the present work is to investigate the thermophysical properties of novel hydrophilic ionic liquid 1-Ethyl-3-Methyl Imidazolium Tetra FluoroBorate (EMIMBF4) and water as binary systems experimentally at various mass fraction and at various temperatures. A room-temperature ionic liquid blended with deionized water in four different mass fractions as 20%, 15%, 10%, and 5% to prepare an ionic liquid and water binary mixture at room temperature. Thermal stability and the thermophysical characteristics of EMIMBF4 such as thermal conductivity, specific heat capacity, viscosity, and density, were measured in the temperature range of 25?C to 90?C. The results reveal that the specific heat capacity increased by 13%, and thermal conductivity enhanced 9%, at 5 wt.% mass fraction. The overall mass drop is reached 75.1% at 20 wt.% mass fractions.

WHAT IS NEW IN NON-CHROMATOGRAPHIC FLAVONOID PURIFICATION?

Flavonoids are metabolites occurring in all plant tissues and present different biological activities. They occur in a mixture of similar polarity with laborious separation and purification processes, usually furnishing low yields. Semi-preparative chromatographic methods are universally employed procedures for their isolation. This paper discusses the state-of-the-art in new non-chromatographic techniques for the separation and purification of flavonoids. In the last decades, novel methods for flavonoids purification have been developed to decrease time extraction, reduction of costs, and organic solvent. Herein, we present the state-of-the-art development of ionic liquids, eutectic solvents, chelating agents, and molecular imprinted polymers in greener extractions, enrichments, and the purification of flavonoids. As the main advantage, these proceedings permitted good yields of bioactive flavonoids and biflavonoids, and they are improved when ultrasound, microwave, and mechanical extractors are used in the extraction step. Nevertheless, most of these techniques are not specific to a single molecule’s purification, except MIPs mainly used for analytical purposes. These examples indicate that the development of efficient and straightforward methods for the obtention of different bioactive flavonoids is still incipient but with potential for discovering specific and greener procedures for isolating the target compounds in good yields.

RECENT DEVELOPMENTS IN IONIC LIQUIDS AND NANOMATERIALS

In this paper, the development of Ionic Liquids to synthesize various types of nanoparticles having commercial and viable uses in 21st century is discussed. Nanotechnology is a promising methodology that generates various types of nanoparticles. Research-based on Ionic Liquids is in the progressive stage and by amalgamating it in nanotechnology, amazing results can be accomplished. Thus, efforts must be made to develop advanced techniques to synthesize nanoparticles with desired structures and morphologies in eco-friendly and sustainable Ionic Liquids to reduce environmental pollution in the future. With this perspective, various developments and efforts made by the scientists in the domain of Nanomaterials and Ionic Liquids have been reviewed.

Progress in environmental behaviors and safety of ionic liquids

Ionic liquids are remarkable chemical compounds, which are widely used in catalysis, energy, material preparation, biochemical and pharmaceutical fields due to their non-volatile, non-flammable, designable structure and high stability. In 1914, the first ionic liquid [EtNH3][NO3] was reported, but that was very unstable in the air. With the explosion, the development of ionic liquids has gone through a long period of silence. Subsequently, with the synthesis of chloroaluminate ionic liquids, the development of ionic liquids has become rapid, from imidazole, quaternary ammonium, pyridine-type ionic liquids to currently highly concerned functional ionic liquids. With the mass production and wide application of ionic liquids, their health risks to the environment have also attracted considerable attention. Although ionic liquids are green, stable, non-volatile, and non-flammable, which would not cause atmospheric pollution, they might be exist in soil and water environment in the process of use, such as production, recovery and treatment. In this paper, the structures of ionic liquids were described, and the influence of ionic liquids structure on biological safety was analyzed. The migration and transformation behavior of ionic liquids in different environmental media and the possible influencing factors were discussed. The environmental behavior of ionic liquids in water and soil is a systematic project. Single toxicity data and environmental data cannot objectively evaluate it. At present, a few related safety numbers of ionic liquids are available, and we should pay greater attention to the safety research of toxicity, degradation and corrosiveness directly related to environmental protection. The effects of ionic liquids on microorganisms, aquatic organisms and terrestrial organisms were summarized. There is no uniformity in toxic activities exhibited by ionic liquids. Some of them demonstrate relatively low toxicity, whereas others impose significant inhibitory effects in various biological systems. Several researches have been aimed at finding relationships that link the ionic liquid structure to its toxicity. However, no general correlations have been discovered. According to the accumulated data, the effect factors of toxicity are including the length of alkyl side chain in the cation, the presence and nature of functional groups in the cation, the anion and cation nature; and interactions between anion and cation. Generally, there is a positive relationship between the alkyl side chain length and toxicity, and an inverse relationship between the relative number of oxygen atoms and toxicity. However, the toxicity of ionic liquids does not always comply with the above rules. The current chemical and biological degradation methods of ionic liquids were reviewed. It is necessary to choose safe and effective degradation methods according to the anions and cations of ionic liquids. Ionic liquids with short side chains should choose chemical degradation as far as possible, while ionic liquids with long alkyl side chains should give priority to biodegradation. In addition, the influences of ionic liquids’ structure on their degradation performance need to be systematically studied. In order to provide a basis for the development of low toxicity and biodegradable ionic liquids, it is also an important way to improve the safety of ionic liquids. This paper clarifies that further study on the environmental behavior, safety effects and degradation methods of ionic liquids is of high scientific value, which is great significance for objective evaluation of the potential of large-scale application of ionic liquids.

Silk Fibroin Bending Actuators as an Approach Toward Natural Polymer Based Active Materials.

This work reports on the development of ionic liquid (IL)/silk fibroin (SF) composite films as electroactive polymers actuators. Different contents (20, 40, and 60% wt) of 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium tricyanomethanide ([Bmim][C(CN3)]) and choline dihydrogen phosphate ([Ch][DHP]) ILs were incorporated into the SF polymer matrix. Due to IL-SF interactions, morphological changes such as globule-like nanostructures are induced in the samples. High concentrations of IL promote SF β-sheet formation above 65%. Further, an increase in the thermal stability of the SF was observed through the incorporation of [Bmim][C(CN3)]. IL type and content allow tuning of the electrical response as well as achieving bending actuation. [Bmim][C(CN3)]/SF samples allow bending responses up to 0.5 at an applied voltage of 3 V. In conclusion, this work demonstrates the ability of IL/SF composites to act as electroactive polymer actuators and opens new perspectives in the application of natural resources for smart materials.

Ionic Liquid Cation Size-Dependent Electromechanical Response of Ionic Liquid/Poly(vinylidene fluoride)-Based Soft Actuators

This work reports on the development of ionic liquid (IL)/poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) actuator composites. ILs sharing the same anion (bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide, [TFSI]−), and differen...

Recent Development of Ionic Liquids in the Degradation, Synthesis and Modification of Polysaccharides

Recent Development of Ionic Liquids in the Degradation, Synthesis and Modification of Polysaccharides

Multi-Objective Genetic Algorithm (MOGA) As a Feature Selecting Strategy in the Development of Ionic Liquids' Quantitative Toxicity-Toxicity Relationship Models.

Quantitative toxicity-toxicity relationship (QTTR) models have a great potential for improving the meaning of toxicological tests conducted on simple organisms. These models allow predicting the toxicological effect of a chemical based on its known toxicological effect in different toxicity tests, even against a different organism. This fact poses a great potential for predicting the toxicity of chemicals against higher organisms based on the results against lower ones. However, the possibility of developing such models is often restricted due to the low availability of data. We present a case study of developing the QTTR model for ionic liquids in different toxicological tests against the same species, in the face of insufficient experimental data (an additional confirmation for a different species is provided in the Supporting Information). In the presented case, we use a series of quantitative structure-activity relationship (QSAR) models developed to deliver the data concerning the toxicity of ionic liquids against human HeLa and MCF-7 cancer cell lines. We use these data to develop a QTTR model with an R2 as high as 0.8. The benefit of applying the multi-objective genetic algorithm (MOGA-a genetic algorithm allowing for selection of the best set of explanatory features for several different dependent variables at the same time) as a QSAR model feature selecting strategy is presented and discussed.

Variations and applications of the oxygen reduction reaction in ionic liquids.

Increasing energy demands call for new energy storage technologies with high energy density to meet current and future needs. Metal-air batteries are especially attractive due to their superior specific energy, which is as much as 8 times that of today's best Li-ion batteries. However, the practical values achieved to date are far from the theoretical one and require further research to enhance the battery performance. The electrolyte plays an important role in the performance of the battery whose properties can be tuned by varying the chemical composition and through the use of additives. That is the case of ionic liquids which offer a wide variety of anion-cation combinations to realise maximum performance. This feature article overviews recent developments in ionic liquids as electrolytes for both magnesium-air and sodium-air batteries.

Development of ionic liquid and lithium salt immobilized MCM-41 quasi solid-liquid electrolytes for lithium batteries

Li-ion conducting quasi solid-liquid electrolytes (QS-LEs) containing ionic liquid EMIMTFSI, lithium salt LiTFSI and ordered mesoporous MCM-41 (Mobil Composition of Matter no. 41) have been synthesized and characterized by N2-sorption, SEM, TEM, DSC, TGA, and complex impedance spectroscopy techniques. The results show that the synthesized QS-LE has good thermal stability (∼360°C; onset temperature) and a wide electrochemical window ∼5.23V. The ionic conductivity is increases with increasing the amount of Li-IL (LIL) solution and attains a value of ∼6.37×10−4Scm−1 at 30°C and 1.60×10−3Scm−1 at 70°C for QS-LE containing high amount of LIL solution. The high ionic conductivity is attributed to the enormous adsorption of LIL solution on the external surface and in the ordered mesopores channels of the MCM-41. A high total ionic transference number (∼0.99) and cationic transference number (tLi+∼0.35) for QS-LE containing high amount of LIL solution have also been obtained. Furthermore, the QS-LE displays outstanding electrochemical properties (specific capacity ∼153mAhg−1 at C/10 rate; and good high rate capability ∼100mAhg−1 and 83mAhg−1 at 1C and 2C rate respectively) and battery performance with LiFePO4 cathodes.

Ionic liquids – The beginning of the end or the end of the beginning? – A look at the life of ionic liquids through patent claims

Research publications provide a guide to ionic liquid research per se, patents and their claims provide a commercial view of the technology. By looking at developments in ionic liquids through patent claims, a picture develops of where ionic liquid technology has moved from the laboratory into the commercial world. This article discusses how the commercialisation of ionic liquid technology can be analysed by tracking changes in the number of ionic liquid filings and the entities behind the filings, as well as developments in categories of claim (ionic liquids per se v. methods of using ionic liquids) and fields in which the patents are being filed.

Development of ethanolamine‐based ionic liquid membranes for efficient CO2/CH4 separation

ABSTRACTThis study is focused on the development of ionic liquids (ILs) based polymeric membranes for the separation of carbon dioxide (CO2) from methane (CH4). The advantage of ILs in selective CO2 absorption is that it enhances the CO2 selective separation for the ionic liquid membranes (ILMs). ILMs are developed and characterized with two different ILs using the solution‐casting method. Three different blend compositions of ILs and polysulfone (PSF) are selected for each ILMs 10, 20, and 30 wt %. Effect of the different types of ILs such as triethanolamine formate (TEAF) and triethanolamine acetate (TEAA) are investigated on PSF‐based ILMs. Field emission scanning electron microscopy analysis of the membranes showed reasonable homogeneity between the ILs and PSF. Thermogravimetric analysis showed that by increasing the ILs loading thermal stability of the membranes improved. Mechanical analysis on developed membranes showed that ILs phase reduced the amount of plastic flow of the PSF phase and therefore, fracture takes place at gradually lower strains with increasing ILs content. Gas permeation evaluation was carried out on the developed membranes for CO2/CH4 separation between 2 bar to 10 bar feed pressure. Results showed that CO2 permeance increases with the addition of ILs 10–30 wt % in ILMs. With 20–30 wt % TEAF‐ILMs and TEAA‐ILMs, the highest selectivity of a CO2/CH4 53.96 ± 0.3, 37.64 ± 0.2 and CO2 permeance 69.5 ± 0.6, 55.21 ± 0.3 is observed for treated membrane at 2–10 bar. The selectivity using mixed gas test at various CO2/CH4 compositions shows consistent results with the ideal gas selectivity. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2017, 134, 45395.

Study on interfacial properties of Imidazolium ionic liquids as surfactant and their application in enhanced oil recovery

Enhanced oil recovery is a tertiary method for recovering oil trapped in porous rock of the reservoir. This oil becomes trapped in porous media because of capillary forces. The reduction of these forces by surfactants is an important aspect of enhanced oil recovery. The development of ionic liquid−based surfactants has gained significant interest in their use as cationic surfactants in analytical methods and separations. In the current study, functionality of long chain imidazolium ionic liquids as surfactants have been investigated by measuring, dynamic interfacial tension of water/oil system and their ability to reduce IFT under harsh conditions of salinity and temperature. In the present study, an advantage of 1-hexadecyl-3-methyl imidazolium bromide (C16mimBr) over traditional cationic surfactant (CTAB) has been highlighted. The efficiency of both (C16mimBr & CTAB) in recovering additional oil when used in an EOR process has been found out by conducting lab-scale core flooding experiments. Also, small Poly (dimethylsiloxane), (PDMS) microchannels have been prepared and moduled as oil filled porous structures in the reservoir. Microscopic images of surfactant solutions flowing through these channels have been recorded to find out whether they form emulsions while flowing. The experiments revealed that C16mimBr is more efficient in reducing interfacial tension between water/oil system and thus recovering more entrapped oil than traditional cationic surfactant CTAB. The results obtained here reflect high interfacial activity, high oil solubility due to the formation of emulsions and stability under harsh reservoir conditions for the IL in consideration.

(Invited) Structural Aspect on Ion Solvation in Ionic Liquid-Based Electrolyte Solutions for Electrochemical Devices

In development of ionic liquid (IL)-based electrolytes for electrochemical devices such as Li ion batteries and electric double-layer and Li ion hybrid electrochemical capacitors, one of important issues is to reduce the viscosity. Bis(fluorosulfonyl)amide (FSA)-based IL is well known as one of low viscous ILs. FSA anion has a similar molecular structure to bis(trifluoromethanesulfonyl)amide (TFSA) anion; CF3 groups of TFSA are only substituted by F atoms, however, the FSA-based ILs show a significantly lower viscosity than the TFSA-based ILs.[1] In general, addition of Li salt to solvent IL leads to an increase in viscosity. Interestingly, the viscosity increase of FSA-based ILs with adding LiFSA salt is appreciably small relative to the corresponding TFSA system,[2] resulting in excellent performance of electrochemical devices with FSA-based ILs. Ion-ion interaction, particularly, “ion solvation” in the bulk plays a key role for understanding not just fundamental dynamic properties of electrolytes but electrode/electrolyte interface structure. In this presentation, we report ion-ion interactions (or liquid structures) in neat FSA- and TFSA-based ILs by using Raman spectroscopy, high energy X-ray total scattering (HEXTS), and theoretical calculations. Solvation structure of Li ion in both ILs are also reported and will be discussed their difference and similarity at the molecular level. From radial distribution functions, G(r)s, obtained by HEXTS and molecular dynamics (MD) simulations,[3] we found that static structure (distance and orientation) of the nearest neighbor cation - anion interaction is almost the same in both [C2mIm][FSA] and [C2mIm][TFSA] (C2mIm: 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium cation). On the other hand, in the long-range structure, the peak intensity or oscillation in the G(r) is appreciably weaker for [C2mIm][FSA] than for [C2mIm][TFSA]. This implies that the extent of the long-range ordering or structuredness is rather low in FSA system relative to TFSA system. Raman spectra with the aid of DFT calculations revealed that solvation structure of Li ion in [C2mIm][FSA] is largely different from that in [C2mIm][TFSA]. The Li ion is solvated with two TFSA anions acting as a bi-dentate ligand in [C2mIm][TFSA] system to form [Li(TFSA)2]– complex. In [C2mIm][FSA] system, solvation number of FSA anions bound to Li ion was estimated to be »3, indicating the formation of [Li(FSA)3]2 – complex. By quantitative analysis on HEXTS and MD data, it was found that mono- and bi-dentate FSA anions coexist in the [Li(FSA)3]2 – complex, i.e., [Li(mono-FSA)2(bi-FSA)1]2–.[4] [1] H. Matsumoto, H. Sakaebe, K. Tatsumi, M. Kikuta, E. Ishiko, M. Kono, J. Power Sources, 160 (2006) 1308. [2] S. Tsuzuki, K. Hayamizu, S. Seki, J. Phys. Chem. B, 114 (2010) 16329-16336. [3] K. Fujii, S. Seki, K. Ohara, Y. Kameda, H. Doi, S. Saito, Y. Umebayashi, J. Solution Chem., 43 (2014) 1655-1668. [4] K. Fujii, H. Hamano, H. Doi, X. Song, S. Tsuzuki, H. Hayamizu, S. Seki, Y. Kameda, K. Dokko, M. Watanabe, Y. Umebayashi, J. Phys. Chem. C, 117 (2013) 19314-19324.

Ionic Liquid Hybrid Electrolytes for Lithium-Ion Batteries: A Key Role of the Separator-Electrolyte Interface in Battery Electrochemistry.

Batteries are multicomponent systems where the theoretical voltage and stoichiometric electron transfer are defined by the electrochemically active anode and cathode materials. While the electrolyte may not be considered in stoichiometric electron-transfer calculations, it can be a critical factor determining the deliverable energy content of a battery, depending also on the use conditions. The development of ionic liquid (IL)-based electrolytes has been a research area of recent reports by other researchers, due, in part, to opportunities for an expanded high-voltage operating window and improved safety through the reduction of flammable solvent content. The study reported here encompasses a systematic investigation of the physical properties of IL-based hybrid electrolytes including quantitative characterization of the electrolyte-separator interface via contact-angle measurements. An inverse trend in the conductivity and wetting properties was observed for a series of IL-based electrolyte candidates. Test-cell measurements were undertaken to evaluate the electrolyte performance in the presence of functioning anode and cathode materials, where several promising IL-based hybrid electrolytes with performance comparable to that of conventional carbonate electrolytes were identified. The study revealed that the contact angle influenced the performance more significantly than the conductivity because the cells containing IL-tetrafluoroborate-based electrolytes with higher conductivity but poorer wetting showed significantly decreased performance relative to the cells containing IL-bis(trifluoromethanesulfonyl)imide electrolytes with lower conductivity but improved wetting properties. This work contributes to the development of new IL battery-based electrolyte systems with the potential to improve the deliverable energy content as well as safety of lithium-ion battery systems.

Long-Chain Fatty Acid-Based Phosphonium Ionic Liquids with Strong Hydrogen-Bond Basicity and Good Lipophilicity: Synthesis, Characterization, and Application in Extraction

The development of ionic liquids (ILs) with strong hydrogen-bond basicity is of great importance for the application of ILs in liquid–liquid extractions, but a long-standing problem is that the increase in hydrogen-bond basicity of ILs usually comes along with undesired changes in other properties such as reduced lipophilicity, raised melting point, and difficulty of forming biphasic systems with water. Herein, we provided a promising solution to this problem by synthesizing a class of functional phosphonium ILs with the use of biocompatible saturated/unsaturated long-chain fatty acids (carbon number up to 20) as anion precursors, and we also carried out systematic investigations on their physicochemical properties. These long-chain fatty acid ILs (LCFA-ILs) featured very strong hydrogen-bond basicity, up to the top level of all reported solvents, along with good lipophilicity and a wide liquid range. Moreover, the viscosity of LCFA-ILs exhibited only a slight increase with increasing chain length, and th...

Application of ionic liquids in hydrometallurgy.

Ionic liquids, low temperature molten salts, have various advantages manifesting themselves as durable and environmentally friendly solvents. Their application is expanding into various fields including hydrometallurgy due to their unique properties such as non-volatility, inflammability, low toxicity, good ionic conductivity, and wide electrochemical potential window. This paper reviews previous literatures and our recent results adopting ionic liquids in extraction, synthesis and processing of metals with an emphasis on the electrolysis of active/light, rare earth, and platinum group metals. Because the research and development of ionic liquids in this area are still emerging, various, more fundamental approaches are expected to popularize ionic liquids in the metal manufacturing industry.