skip to main content
US FlagAn official website of the United States government
dot gov icon
Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.
https lock icon
Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock ( lock ) or https:// means you've safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

Explore Research Products in the PAR
It may take a few hours for recently added research products to appear in PAR search results.


Title: Synthesis and Characterization of Neoteric Boronium Ionic Liquids
Ionic liquids (ILs) are highly tailorable materials with unique physical and chemical properties that set them apart from conventional organic solvents. As the library of readily accessible ILs continues to grow, so too does their relevance in applications ranging from material processing to electrochemical energy storage as solvents capable of accessing new chemistries disallowed by traditional chemicals. While a great deal of interest has been directed towards imidazolium and quaternary ammonium based ionic liquids, there are other understudied classes of cations which have potentially favorable properties for energy related applications. One such class is that with boronium cations. These cations have a unique structure with a formally negative boron flanked by positive nitrogens. This inherently zwitterionic structure presents interesting possibilities for electrochemical applications. To date only a handful of boronium cation-based ionic liquids have been thoroughly characterized despite exhibiting impressive electrochemical stabilities (> 5.0 V). In the present study we synthesized a series of ILs with novel boronium cations coupled with the bis(trifluoro-methanesulfonyl)imide anion. We then characterized the electrochemical and physical properties of these boronium ionic liquids by techniques such as cyclic voltammetry, broadband dielectric spectroscopy, oscillatory shear rheology, and thermogravimetric analysis. We will discuss how systematic variations in boronium cation structure impacted electrochemical and physical properties.  more » « less
Award ID(s):
2102978
PAR ID:
10514090
Author(s) / Creator(s):
; ; ; ; ;
Publisher / Repository:
Electrochemical Society
Date Published:
Journal Name:
ECS Meeting Abstracts
Volume:
MA2023-02
Issue:
56
ISSN:
2151-2043
Page Range / eLocation ID:
2721 to 2721
Format(s):
Medium: X
Sponsoring Org:
National Science Foundation
More Like this
  1. ; (, RSC Advances)
    Ionic liquids (ILs) have attracted considerable attention in several sectors (from energy storage to catalysis, from drug delivery to separation media) owing to their attractive properties, such as high thermal stability, wide electrochemical window, and high ionic conductivity. However, their high viscosity and surface tension compared to conventional organic solvents can lead to unfavorable transport properties. To circumvent undesired kinetics effects limiting mass transfer, the discretization of ILs into small droplets has been proposed as a method to increase the effective surface area and the rates of mass transfer. In the present review paper, we summarize the different methods developed so far for encapsulating ILs in organic or inorganic shells and highlight characteristic features of each approach, while outlining potential applications. The remarkable tunability of ILs, which derives from the high number of anions and cations currently available as well as their permutations, combines with the possibility of tailoring the composition, size, dispersity, and properties ( e.g. , mechanical, transport) of the shell to provide a toolbox for rationally designing encapsulated ILs for next-generation applications, including carbon capture, energy storage devices, waste handling, and microreactors. We conclude this review with an outlook on potential applications that could benefit from the possibility of encapsulating ILs in organic and inorganic shells. 
    more » « less
  2. ; (, Molecular Systems Design & Engineering)
    Ionic liquids are currently being considered as potential electrolyte candidates for next-generation batteries and energy storage devices due to their high thermal and chemical stability. However, high viscosity and low conductivity at lower temperatures have severely hampered their commercial applications. To overcome these challenges, it is necessary to develop structure–property models for ionic liquid transport properties to guide the ionic liquid design. This work expands our previous effort in developing a machine learning model on imidazolium-based ionic liquids to now include ten different cation families, representing structural and chemical diversity. The model dataset contains 2869 ionic conductivity values over a temperature range of 238–472 K collected from the NIST ILThermo database and literature values for 397 unique ionic liquids. The database covers 214 unique cations and 68 unique anions. Three machine learning models, namely multiple linear regression, random forest, and extreme gradient boosting are applied to correlate the ionic liquid conductivity data with cation and anion features. Shapely additive analysis is performed to glean insights into cation and anion features with significant impact on ionic conductivity. Finally, the extreme gradient boosting model is used to predict the ionic conductivity of ionic liquids from all the possible combinations of unique cations and anions to identify ionic liquids crossing the ionic conductivity threshold of 2.0 S m −1 . 
    more » « less
  3. ; ; ; (, Green Chemistry)
    The theoretical promise of ionic liquids (ILs) as ‘green’ designer solvents that can be tuned to facilitate key steps of lignocellulosic biomass processing has not been fully realized due to the sheer number of possible cation–anion combinations and concerns about toxicity of this class of chemicals. Although computational methods are being applied to identify ILs with specific functions, such as dissolution of cellulose, they are not used to iteratively design new ionic liquids with the goal of simultaneously optimizing multiple criteria, such as performance and environmental safety. Here we describe a tiered computational approach to develop new ILs based on mixed quantum and molecular mechanics simulations, which, combined with analysis of physicochemical properties of ILs can be used to guide structural modifications to design both better performing task-specific and safer IL analogs. The increase in computing requirements of the proposed approach over structure-based statistical models is relatively modest; yet, our approach is more robust than these models, and far less costly than highly-accurate but very demanding large-scale molecular simulations. 
    more » « less
  4. ; (, Advanced Energy Materials)
    Abstract The remarkable surge in energy demand has compelled the quest for high‐energy‐density battery systems. The Li–O2battery (LOB) and Li–air battery (LAB), owing to their extremely high theoretical energy density, have attracted extensive research in the past two decades. The commercial development of LOB is hampered due to the numerous challenges its components present. Ionic liquids (ILs) are considered potential electrolyte solvents of LOBs and LABs due to their excellent electrochemical stability, thermal stability, non‐flammability, low flammability, and O2solubility. In addition to electrolyte solvents, ILs also have other applications in LOB and LAB systems. This review reports the progress of IL‐based LOBs and LABs over the years since treported for the first time in 2005. The impact of the physiochemical properties of ILs on the performance of LOB and LAB at various operating conditions is thoroughly discussed. The various methodologies are also summarized that are employed to tune ILs’ physiochemical properties to render them more favorable for rechargeable lithium batteries. Tunable properties of ILs create the possibility of designing cost‐effective batteries with excellent safety, high energy density and high power density, and long‐term stability. 
    more » « less
  5. ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; (, Advanced Intelligent Systems)
    Ionic liquids (ILs) exhibit unique properties of good ionic conductivity, electrochemical and thermal stability, and nonflammability, which make them promising candidates for biomedical applications. The limitations of their cytocompatibility are enhanced by using bioionic liquids (BILs) derived from biological molecules such as amines, sugars, and organic acids. BILs can be synthesized using tailorable chemistries that enable their immobilization onto biopolymers. For example, the cholinium ion and its derivatives have found significant interest in tissue engineering and drug delivery systems. Ion‐doped BIL‐functionalized polymers and their composites can also be used to design pH and electrical responsive actuators and sensors. The cytocompatibility and low immunogenicity of BIL‐functionalized polymers enable the possibilities of their use for power storage devices as well as implantable devices. These devices are gaining recognition and importance in nucleic acid delivery and molecular medicine. This review focuses on the recent advances of BILs in biomedical applications. Specifically, the review explores BILs as agents for biopolymer functionalization and highlights BILs as solvents for supermolecular ionic networks. 
    more » « less
  • Citation Formats
  • MLA
  • APA
  • Chicago
  • BibTeX
  • Save / Share this Record
  • Send to Email