Ionic liquid

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Ionic liquids, originally known as liquid electrolytes, ionic melts, ionic fluids, fused salts, liquid salts, or ionic glasses, are liquids comprised predominantly of ions and ion-pairs at some given temperature. Ordinary table salt, or, sodium chloride, consists of sodium cations (Na+) and chloride anions (Cl−) that when heated to several hundred degrees, forms a liquid containing predominantly ions. While many combinations of bulkier and often more asymmetric organic ions also form well defined crystals, with well defined melting points, many instead form glasses prior to thermodynamically stable crystal lattice formation where the cyrstallization kinetics are extremely slow. For example, the salt 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium dicyanamide, [C2mim][N(CN)2], melts at Tm = -21 °C, pyridinium chloride, [PyH]Cl, exhibits a melting point of Tm = 144.5 °C but 1-butyl-3,5-dimethylpyridinium bromide, [N-butyl-3,5-dimethyl-Py]Br, exhibits glass formation at Tg = -24 °C.

The term, ionic liquid, includes all classical molten salts, which are comprised of more thermally stable ions, such as sodium with chloride or potassium with nitrate, and has been attested as early as 1943. Recently, it has come to be used for salts whose melting point is below an arbitrary set point of 100 °C. There also exist mixtures of substances which have low melting points, called deep eutectic solvents, or DES, that have many similarities with ionic liquids.

For more information about Ionic liquid, read the full article at Wikipedia.
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News tagged with ionic liquids

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Liquid Mirror Telescopes on the Moon

Liquid Mirror Telescopes on the Moon

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Oct 09, 2008 | popularity 4.6 / 5 (86) | comments 14

A team of internationally renowned astronomers and opticians may have found a way to make "unbelievably large" telescopes on the Moon.


Metal air battery

Metal-Air Battery Could Store 11 Times More Energy than Lithium-Ion

Technology / Energy

created Nov 05, 2009 | popularity 4.4 / 5 (51) | comments 12

(PhysOrg.com) -- A spinoff company from Arizona State University plans to build a new battery with an energy density 11 times greater than that of lithium-ion batteries for just one-third the cost. With a ...


Plastic that grows on trees, part two

Chemistry / Materials Science

created May 19, 2009 | popularity 4.7 / 5 (13) | comments 7

Some researchers hope to turn plants into a renewable, nonpolluting replacement for crude oil. To achieve this, scientists have to learn how to convert plant biomass into a building block for plastics and fuels cheaply and ...


A new method to cleaner and more efficient CO2 capture

A new method to cleaner and more efficient CO2 capture

Chemistry / Other

created Jul 22, 2009 | popularity 4.5 / 5 (11) | comments 61

(PhysOrg.com) -- Separating carbon dioxide from its polluting source, such as the flue gas from a coal-fired power plant, may soon become cleaner and more efficient.


Chemists look for cleaner, cheaper rocket fuel

Chemists look for cleaner, cheaper rocket fuel

Chemistry /

created Dec 02, 2008 | popularity 4.2 / 5 (10) | comments 4

(PhysOrg.com) -- Mark Gordon recently held up a small vial containing three liquids layered one on top of another. That middle layer, the brownish one, is an ionic liquid, Gordon explained.


The Future in Two Words: Ionic Liquids

The Future in Two Words: Ionic Liquids

Chemistry / Materials Science

created Nov 13, 2009 | popularity 4.4 / 5 (8) | comments 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- Ionic liquids are molecular solutions that have a wide range of potential applications, including next-generation solar cells, hydrogen fuel cells and lithium batteries.


Explosives go 'green'

Explosives go 'green'

Chemistry /

created Aug 28, 2008 | popularity 3.4 / 5 (8) | comments 2

(Physorg.com) -- Certain explosives may soon get a little greener and a little more precise. LLNL researchers added unique green solvents (ionic liquids) to an explosive called TATB (1,3,5-triamino-2,4,6-trinitrobenzene) ...


Scientists to go where no chemists has gone before

Chemistry / Materials Science

created Sep 28, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (4) | comments 0

Scientists at The University of Nottingham have overcome one of the significant research challenges facing electrochemists. For the first time they have found a way of probing right into the heart of an electrochemical reaction.


New technique can fast-track better ionic liquids for biomass pre-treatments

New technique can fast-track better ionic liquids for biomass pre-treatments

Biology / Biotechnology

created Jul 10, 2009 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (4) | comments 3

They've been dubbed "grassoline" - second generation biofuels made from inedible plant material, including fast-growing weeds, agricultural waste, sawdust, etc. - and numerous scientific studies have shown ...


Scientists discover eco-friendly wood dissolution

Chemistry / Biochemistry

created May 20, 2009 | popularity 3.8 / 5 (4) | comments 0

Scientists at Queen's University Belfast have discovered a new eco-friendly way of dissolving wood using ionic liquids that may help its transformation into popular products such as bio fuels, textiles, clothes and paper.


Scientists develope new agents to battle MRSA

Chemistry / Biochemistry

created Mar 25, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0

Experts from Queen's University Belfast have developed new agents to fight MRSA and other hospital-acquired infections that are resistant to antibiotics. The fluids are a class of ionic liquids that not only kill colonies ...


Ionic Liquid's Makeup Measurably Non-Uniform at the Nanoscale

Physics / Condensed Matter

created Nov 10, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 1

(PhysOrg.com) -- Researchers at Texas Tech University, Queen's University in Belfast, Ireland, the University of Rome and the National Research Council in Italy recently made a discovery about the non-uniform chemical compositions ...


Glowing channels: Microanalysis system for rapid mercury detection

Chemistry / Analytical Chemistry

created Dec 22, 2009 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- Water contaminated with mercury is very dangerous for both people and the environment, as mercury is one of the most toxic heavy metals. Though laboratory analyses do deliver precise quantitative measurements, ...