07-Feb-2020

Table salt is a commonplace ingredient in the kitchen, but a different kind of salt is at the forefront of chemistry innovation. Low-temperature molten salts known as ionic liquids are said to be "greener" and safer than traditional solvents. According to an article in Chemical & Engineering ...

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Providing Safe, Clean Water

03-Dec-2019

In many parts of the world, access to clean drinking water is far from certain. Filtration of large volumes of water, however, is slow and impractical. In the journal Angewandte Chemie, scientists have introduced a new water purification method based on magnetic nanoparticles coated with a ...

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03-Jul-2018

Researchers from Tokyo Metropolitan University have observed the formation of holes that move by themselves in droplets of ionic liquids (IL) sitting inside water-ethanol mixtures. This curious, complex phenomenon is driven by an interplay between how ionic liquids dissolve, and how the boundary ...

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05-Feb-2018

Researchers have developed a novel strategy to control the shapes of polymeric materials by utilizing photoresponsive molecular switches, which may evolve tractable stimuli-responsive soft materials. Ionic liquids (ILs) are liquid-state salts at room temperature and are high-potential materials ...

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13-Nov-2017

Researchers have developed a highly robust gel that includes large amounts of ionic liquid. The research team was led by Professor Matsuyama Hideto and Assistant Professor Kamio Eiji (Kobe University Graduate School of Science, Center for Membrane and Film Technology). Ionic liquid is a substance ...

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14-Sep-2017

Experts at Queen’s University Belfast have designed a flexible and organic alternative to the rigid batteries that power up medical implants. Currently, devices such as pacemakers and defibrillators are fitted with rigid and metal based batteries, which can cause patient discomfort. Dr Geetha ...

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22-Dec-2016

A new concept in energy harvesting could capture energy currently wasted due to its characteristic low frequency and use it to power next-generation electronic devices, according to a team of Penn State materials scientists and electrical engineers. The project, funded by Samsung, designed a ...

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20-Oct-2016

An HZB team has developed a new approach to conduct photoemission spectroscopy of molecules in solution. This has been difficult up to now because the sample needed to be situated in vacuum – but liquids evaporate. The work has now demonstrated it is feasible to replace the solvent with an ionic ...

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16-Sep-2016

Lignin can now be efficiently and cost-effectively separated from sawdust, by using eutectic solvents. VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland has developed solvents using which 50% of the lignin from wood can be extracted in a pure form that retains its natural chemical structure during ...

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01-Jun-2016

A research group led by Professor Mochida Tomoyuki (Kobe University Graduate School of Science) and Dr. Funasako Yusuke (Tokyo University of Science, Yamaguchi) has developed a metal-containing compound which transforms into a solid when exposed to light and returns to liquid form when heated. ...

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