Ionic Liquids

Vision and goal

Ionic liquids are salts, which are liquid at ambient temperature. Ionic liquids have been in the focus of intense research for more than twenty years due to extraordinary physico-chemical properties like negligible vapour pressure, ionic conductivity, high thermal stability, broad liquidus range and interesting dissolution capabilities.

Research in the IMS Lab focuses mostly on usage of ionic liquids as electrolytes in electroactive polymers. Long time experiences in the field have helped us to determine the properties of ionic liquids responsible for high performance of electroactive polymer actuators and sensors. We synthesize and characterize ionic liquids and deep eutectic mixtures with aim to "tailor" the physico-chemical properties of the compounds to be suitable for specific applications. Bicompatibility and biodegradability of ionic liquids are of great importance in our research as potential applications for electroactive polymers include implantable or disposable medical devices, smart prosthesis, soft haptic devices and wearable electronics.

Highlights

• The first time preparation of a fully biocompatible electroactive polymer based on biopolymers and biofriendly ionic liquids.

Capabilities

Equipment

All steps from materials development to device design and fabrication are covered:

• chemistry lab equipped for organic synthesis
• FT-IR spectrometer
• KF titrator
• potentiostats/galvanostats/frequenzy analyzers
• SEM equipped with EDX
• glove box

There is access in the faculty to NMR, DSC, TGA etc.

Skills

We have experiences in working with different aspects of ionic liquids:

• synthesis and characterization of novel ionic liquids
• mixtures of ionic liquids and deep eutectic solvents
• polymerizable ionic liquids
• lanthanide containing ionic liquids
• CO2 capture using ionic liquids
• ionic liquids for tribology
• ionic liquids for synthesis of nanomaterials
• dissolution of biopolymers using ionic liquids
• toxicological testing of ionic liquids
• computational simulations for ionic liquids

Primary contact

Kaija Põhako-EskoAssociate Prof. of Materials Chemistry, former Marie Skłodowska-Curie fellow (chemistry, organic synthesis, ionic liquids)

Alvo Aablooprofessor, head of the lab

Student projects

• Ioonsed vedelikud elektroatiivsete polümeeride jaoks
• Bioühilduvad elektroaktiivsed polümeerid

Porfolio

Projects

• Development of biocompatible ionic electromechanically active polymer actuators and sensors using biofriendly ionic liquids as electrolytes (Marie Sklodowska-Curie Individual Fellowship no 793377 "BIOACT" )
• Development of multi-stimuli responsive materials and devices using magnetic ionic liquids

Selected Publications

• Migliorini, L.; Piazzoni, C.; Pohako-Esko, K.; Di Girolamo, M.; Vitaloni, A.; Borghi, F.; Tommaso, S.; Aabloo, A.; Milani, P. All-Printed Green Micro-Supercapacitors Based on a Naturalderived Ionic Liquid for Flexible Transient Electronics. Adv. Functs. Mat. 2021, 2102180.
• Elhi, F.; Priks, T.; Rinne, P.; Kaldalu, N.; Zusinaite, E.; Johanson, U.; Aabloo, A.; Tamm, T.; Põhako-Esko, K. Electromechanically active polymer actuators based on biofriendly choline ionic liquids. Smart. Mater. Struct.. 2020, 29, 055021.
• Karu, K.; Elhi, F.; Põhako-Esko, K.; Ivanistsev, V. Predicting Melting Points of Biofriendly Choline-Based Ionic Liquids with Molecular Dynamics. Appl. Sci. 2019, 24, 5367.
• Pohako-Esko, K.; Bahlmann, M.; Schulz, P. S.; Wasserscheid, P. Chitosan containing supported ionic liquid phase materials for CO2 absorption. Ind. Eng. Chem. Res. 2016, 55, 7052-7059.
• Pohako-Esko, K.; Wehner, T.; Schulz, P. S.; Heinemann, F. W.; Mueller-Buschbaum, K.; Wasserscheid, P. Synthesis and properties of organic hexahalocerate(III) salts. Eur. J. Inorg. Chem. 2016, 9, 1333-1339.