Low viscosity highly conductive ionic liquid blends for redox active electrolytes in efficient dye-sensitized solar cells

Mixtures of ionic liquids were prepared and used for the development of composite redox electrolytes electrolytes by blending a standard low viscosity ionic liquid solvent (EMimDCA, 1-ethyl-3methylimidazolium dicyanamide) with various iodide-based ionic liquids based on the methylimidazolium cation (DMII, EMII, PMII, BMII and HMII). The novel electrolytes based on the [CnC1im]I/EMimDCA double salt ILs show interesting physicochemical properties including low viscosity (10-110 MPa s) and high diffusion coefficient of triiodides (DI3-, 5-10 ¿ 10-7 cm2/s), respectively, characteristics that promiss increased performance in DSC devices. Their electrochemical properties along with the conductivity were also tuned and optimized; values as high as and 2-4 mS/cm were estimated for the conductivity. Solar cells based on these composite electrolytes attained efficiencies over 4% under 1 sun with the highest being 5.5%, attained by EMimDCA-DMII mixture. Quite notably, these efficiencies further increased up to 6.5%, when the cells were illuminated by 0.1 sun

Low transition temperature mixtures as innovative and sustainable CO2 capture solvents

The potential of three newly discovered low transition temperature mixtures (LTTMs) is explored as sustainable substituents for the traditional carbon dioxide (CO2) absorbents. LTTMs are mixtures of two solid compounds, a hydrogen bond donor (HBD) and a hydrogen bond acceptor (HBA), which form liquids upon mixing with melting points far below those of the individual compounds. In this work the HBD is lactic acid and the HBAs are tetramethylammonium chloride, tetraethylammonium chloride, and tetrabutylammonium chloride. These compounds were found to form LTTMs for the first time at molar ratios of HBD:HBA = 2:1. First, the LTTMs were characterized by determining the thermal operating window (e.g., decomposition temperature and glass transition temperature) and the physical properties (e.g., density and viscosity). Thereafter, the phase behavior of CO2 with the LTTMs has been measured using a gravimetric magnetic suspension balance operating in the static mode at 308 and 318 K and pressures up to 2 MPa. The CO2 solubility increased with increasing chain length, increasing pressure, and decreasing temperature. The Peng–Robinson equation of state was applied to correlate the phase equilibria. From the solubility data, thermodynamic parameters were determined (e.g., Henry’s law coefficient and enthalpy of absorption). The heat of absorption was found to be similar to that in conventional physical solvents (-11.21 to -14.87 kJ·mol–1). Furthermore, the kinetics in terms of the diffusion coefficient of CO2 in all LTTMs were determined (10–11–10–10 m2·s–1). Even though the CO2 solubilities in the studied LTTMs were found to be slightly lower than those in thoroughly studied conventional physical solvents, LTTMs are a promising new class of absorbents due to their low cost, their environmentally friendly character, and their easy tunability, allowing further optimization for carbon capture

Even stevig schudden, en al het vuil lost op : een nieuw type oplosmiddelen uit Eindhoven kan haast niet zonder toepassing blijven

Metalen in afvalwater, CO2 in aardgas, het zijn vervelende vervuilingen die het milieu belasten en de industrieopkosten jagen. Eindhovense onderzoekers komen nu met een totaal nieuw type oplosmiddelen. Snel, goedkoop en duurzaam. Althans, voorlopig nog in het laboratorium. \u3cbr/\u3e\u3cbr/\u3e\u3cbr/\u3e\u3cbr/\u3e\u3cbr/\u3e\u3cbr/\u3e\u3cbr/\u3e\u3cbr/\u3

TU/e-onderzoekers ontdekken snel en veilig oplosmiddel voor metaalverontreiniging

EINDHOVEN - Onderzoekers van de TU/e hebben\u3cbr/\u3eeen nieuw type oplosmiddel gevonden voor\u3cbr/\u3emetaal. Het spul is volgens de universiteit snel,\u3cbr/\u3eveilig, gemakkelijk te maken, goedkoop en ook\u3cbr/\u3enog eens veel milieuvriendelijker dan veel van de\u3cbr/\u3ealternatieven.\u3cbr/\u3eDat meldt de TU/e maandag

Doorbraak : snel en veilig oplosmiddel voor metaalverontreiniging ontdekt

De huidige oplosmiddelen om specifieke metalen uit water te verwijderen hebben allemaal hun nadelen. Er zijn grote veiligheidsrisico's, ze zijn traag, duur, of milieuonvriendelijk. Onderzoekers van de Technische Universiteit\u3cbr/\u3eEindhoven hebben nu een nieuw type oplosmiddel gevonden dat bijzonder snel is, veilig, gemakkelijk te maken,goedkoop en ook nog eens veel milieuvriendelijker dan veel van de alternatieven. Volgens de onderzoekers is de potentie enorm groot, voor de industrie, voor waterzuivering en voor de terugwinning van zeldzame metalen

Eutectisch oplosmiddel vangt zware metalen

Met een hydrofoob mengsel van decaanzuur en lidocaïne kun je ongekend eenvoudig metaalionen extraheren uit afvalwater. Samenvoegen en een paar uur schudden is voldoende, schrijven onderzoekers van de TU Eindhoven in Chemical Communications.\u3cbr/\u3

Nieuw oplosmiddel vangt metalen

Artikel van Renée Moezelaar over Dannie van Osch en zijn collega's. De natuur zit vol met metalen zoals kobalt, koper en nikkel, die we liever niet in ons water of voedsel terugzien. Met een nieuw oplosmiddel hopen onderzoekers van de TU Eindhoven het verwijderen van deze gevaarlijke stoffen een stuk makkelijker te maken

Novel pressure and temperature swing processes for CO\u3csub\u3e2\u3c/sub\u3e capture using low viscosity ionic liquids

\u3cp\u3eFor gas sweetening, physical solvents (e.g. Selexol, Rectisol and Fluor) are favored over chemical solvents when the partial pressure of CO\u3csub\u3e2\u3c/sub\u3e in the flue gas is high. The CO\u3csub\u3e2\u3c/sub\u3e rich solvent is usually regenerated by reducing the pressure without adding heat. The current work presents a comparative study of the low-viscous ionic liquid (IL) 1-hexyl-3-methylimidazolium tricyanomethanide ([C\u3csub\u3e6\u3c/sub\u3emim][TCM]) versus the established physical solvent Selexol (DEPG, a mixture of dimethyl ethers of polyethylene glycol) used as a benchmark. The process being investigated is the sweetening of synthetic natural gas mainly consisting of CO\u3csub\u3e2\u3c/sub\u3e and CH\u3csub\u3e4\u3c/sub\u3e (about 13 kton·y\u3csup\u3e−1\u3c/sup\u3e). The parameters used for the fair comparison include: (i) the CO\u3csub\u3e2\u3c/sub\u3e solubility (removal capability and solvent efficiency), (ii) the energy needed for solvent regeneration and (iii) the required equipment to achieve the same performance in terms of separation selectivity and specification of the purified gas. Besides the pressure swing process configuration commonly used in the absorption/desorption processes involving physical solvents, novel temperature swing and a combination of the two are evaluated including their impact on the primary energy requirement and investment costs for CO\u3csub\u3e2\u3c/sub\u3e capture. In this work, it is concluded that a combination of pressure- and temperature swing is the most feasible configuration for solvent regeneration. The pressure in this novel concept is reduced to only 0.92 MPa in the lowest pressure flash tank as compared to 0.1 MPa in the conventional pressure swing process, reducing the recompression costs considerably as the absorber operates at 2.8 MPa.\u3c/p\u3

Carbon dioxide solubilities in decanoic acid-based hydrophobic deep eutectic solvents

\u3cp\u3eThe solubility of CO\u3csub\u3e2\u3c/sub\u3e in hydrophobic deep eutectic solvents (DESs) has been measured for the first time. Six different hydrophobic DESs are studied in the temperature range from 298 to 323 K and at CO\u3csub\u3e2\u3c/sub\u3e pressures up to 2 MPa. The results are evaluated by comparing the solubility data with existing hydrophilic DESs and currently applied physical solvents and fluorinated ionic liquids. The DESs are prepared by mixing decanoic acid with a quaternary ammonium salt with different halide anions and alkyl chain lengths. The measured CO\u3csub\u3e2\u3c/sub\u3e solubilities are similar to those found in renowned fluorinated ILs, while the heats of CO\u3csub\u3e2\u3c/sub\u3e absorption are in the range of nonpolar solvents. The presented DESs show good potential to be used as CO\u3csub\u3e2\u3c/sub\u3e capture agents.\u3c/p\u3