2D nanoporous Ni(OH) film as an electrode material for high-performance energy storage devices.

A two-dimensional (2D) nanoporous Ni(OH) film was successfully developed from triethanolamine (TEA) as the alkali source and soft template using a scalable hydrothermal technique. The nanostructured Ni(OH) film was flexible and translucent, and could be directly compressed on a current collector. Owing to the uniform well-defined morphology and stable structure, the Ni(OH) film binder-free electrode displayed a high specific capacity, exceptional rate capability, and admirable cycle life.

Solvothermal synthesis of NiWO nanostructure and its application as a cathode material for asymmetric supercapacitors.

This study proposes a facile solvothermal synthesis of nickel tungstate (NiWO) nanowires for application as a novel cathode material for supercapacitors. The structure, morphology, surface area and pore distribution were characterized and their capacitive performances were investigated. The results showed that the NiWO nanowires synthesized in ethylene glycol solvent could offer a high specific capacitance of 1190 F g at a current density of 0.

Nanoreactors stable up to 200 °C: a class of high temperature microemulsions composed solely of ionic liquids.

It is a challenge to develop microemulsions which can serve as nanoreactors for the synthesis of nanoparticles and chemical reactions at high temperature. In this work, a class of novel high temperature microemulsions consisting solely of ionic liquids have been designed and prepared for the first time. It is found that nanoscale droplets formed in the ionic liquid microemulsions can be maintained up to 200 °C, and the size distribution of the droplets can be easily tuned by selection of the ionic liquids and varying compositions of the systems.

A green separation strategy for neodymium (III) from cobalt (II) and nickel (II) using an ionic liquid-based aqueous two-phase system.

It is significant to develop sustainable strategies for the selective separation of rare earth from transition metals from fundamental and practical viewpoint. In this work, an environmentally friendly solvent extraction approach has been developed to selectively separate neodymium (III) from cobalt (II) and nickel (II) by using an ionic liquid-based aqueous two phase system (IL-ATPS). For this purpose, a hydrophilic ionic liquid (IL) tetrabutylphosphonate nitrate ([P][NO]) was prepared and used for the formation of an ATPS with NaNO.

Visible Light-Controlled Inversion of Pickering Emulsions Stabilized by Functional Silica Microspheres.

A new class of donor-acceptor Stenhouse adduct (DASA)-functionalized silica microspheres (SMs) is designed and described to formulate Pickering emulsions with inversion property and large polarity change upon visible light irradiation. By tuning the hydrophilicity of the functional SM particles with visible light, these Pickering emulsions can easily perform inversion from water-in-oil to oil-in-water. The inversion performance of the emulsions is ascribed to DASA photoisomerization from an extended, hydrophobic, and intensely purple-colored triene to a compact, zwitterionic, and colorless cyclopentenone upon irradiation with visible light.

Understanding the mechanism of LCST phase separation of mixed ionic liquids in water by MD simulations.

Recently, it has been found experimentally that two different amino acid ionic liquids (ILs) can be mixed to show unique lowest critical solution temperature (LCST) phase separation in water. However, little is known about the mechanism of phase separation in these IL/water mixtures at the molecular level. In this work, five kinds of amino acid ILs were chosen to study the mechanism of LCST-type phase separation by molecular dynamics (MD) simulations.

Formation of ether-functionalized ionic-liquid-based aqueous two-phase systems and their application in separation of protein and saccharides.

Ionic-liquid (IL)-based aqueous two-phase systems (ATPSs) have attracted much attention in the separation technology. In this work, we synthesized five novel ether-functionalized ILs and studied their applications in ATPS formation. The phase diagrams for several systems were determined at 298.

Selective electrodes for [PF6](-) and [BF4](-) anions based on the associates formed by ionic liquid and cationic dyes.

The feasibility of the newly synthesized ionic associates L1 and L2 formed by ionic liquid [C4mim][PF6] and cationic dyes (malachite green and methylene blue) has been tested as a novel ionophore for the preparation of anion-selective polymeric membrane electrodes. The electrode exhibits Nernstian response and enhanced potentiometric selectivity towards [PF6](-) compared to many other anions. The influence of some experimental parameters such as membrane composition, nature of plasticizer and amount of additive on the potential response of the [PF6](-) sensor are investigated.

Partitioning behavior of amino acids in aqueous two-phase systems formed by imidazolium ionic liquid and dipotassium hydrogen phosphate.

Partition coefficients of amino acids, including glycine, alanine, 2-aminobutyric acid, valine, leucine, threonine, methinoine, tryptophan and tyrosine, in [C(n)mim]Br (n=4, 6, 8)+K(2)HPO(4) aqueous two-phase systems (ATPSs) have been determined, and the relative hydrophobicity of the equilibrium phases in the ionic liquids-based aqueous two-phase systems has been characterized by the Gibbs energies of transfer for methylene group from the bottom salt-rich phase to the top ionic liquid-rich phase. Based on these results, factors affecting the partitioning behavior of the amino acids have been investigated. It is shown that partition coefficients of the amino acids increase with the increase of hydrophobicity of the amino acids and the ionic liquids, solution pH value, tie-line length of the ATPSs and temperature of the systems.

Effect of anionic structure on the phase formation and hydrophobicity of amino acid ionic liquids aqueous two-phase systems.

Compared with the conventional ionic liquids, amino acid ionic liquids are more biodegradable and biocompatible, and can enhance stability of biomaterials. In this work, amino acid ionic liquids 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium L-serine ([C(4)mim][Ser]), 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium glycine ([C(4)mim][Gly]), 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium L-alanine ([C(4)mim][Ala]) and 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium L-leucine ([C(4)mim][Leu]) have been synthesized. These ionic liquids are found to form aqueous two-phase systems (ATPSs) by the salted-out of K(3)PO(4) in aqueous solutions.

Theoretical study on cation-anion interaction and vibrational spectra of 1-allyl-3-methylimidazolium-based ionic liquids.

In order to deepen the understanding of the cation-anion interaction in ionic liquids, the structures of cation, anions, and cation-anion ion-pairs of 1-allyl-3-methylimidazolium-based ionic liquids are optimized using density functional theory (DFT), and their most stable geometries are discussed. The structural parameters, hydrogen bonds and interaction energies of 1-allyl-3-methylimidazolium dicyanamide ([Amim]DCA), 1-allyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride ([Amim]Cl), 1-allyl-3-methylimidazolium formate ([Amim]FmO) and 1-allyl-3-methylimidazolium acetate ([Amim]AcO) ion pairs are studied. The vibrational frequencies of [Amim]DCA and [Amim]Cl have been calculated and scaled values have been compared with experimental FT-IR and FT-Raman spectra.

Ionic association of the ionic liquids [C4mim][BF4], [C4mim][PF6], and [Cnmim]Br in molecular solvents.

Considering the ionic nature of ionic liquids (ILs), ionic association is expected to be essential in solutions of ILs and to have an important influence on their applications. Although numerous studies have been reported for the ionic association behavior of ILs in solution, quantitative results are quite scarce. Herein, the conductivities of the ILs [Cnmim]Br (n=4, 6, 8, 10, 12), [C4mim][BF4], and [C4mim][PF6] in various molecular solvents (water, methanol, 1-propanol, 1-pentanol, acetonitrile, and acetone) are determined at 298.