Theoretical Studies of Ion Processes in the Liquid State

这个项目将发现更多关于熔盐和离子液体的分子特性。******“2摄氏度情景”是一个由联合国支持的全球目标，旨在将世界气温上升幅度限制在19世纪工业化之前的2摄氏度以内。我们的研究支持这一目标。要实现这一目标，就需要减少温室气体的排放量。2013年，化石燃料（煤/天然气/石油）的使用占全球能源的81%，在一个可行的计划中，到2050年，这一比例只需要降至40%，就能实现2摄氏度的目标。因此，在我的一生中，有两个重要的同步战略，以提高全球能源生产和消费的可持续性（经济和环境）：***-战略一：将一些行业从化石燃料转向对环境影响较小的替代燃料。***-战略二：减少使用化石燃料的两个主要环境成本：矿山/油井/炼油厂/发电厂的电力消耗和向大气排放的二氧化碳。目前，这两种环境可持续性战略在经济上是不可持续的。******化学家可以发挥重要作用，如果他们能找到材料，使这些策略在经济上可持续。熔融盐和离子液体（低熔点熔融盐）已经在这些方面提出，但需要对这些材料有更多的基本了解，才能使它们在战略一和战略二中的使用可持续。******对于战略一，熔盐已经看到了最近的发展：用于太阳能到蒸汽发电的热能储存，作为下一代核电站的冷却剂，以及作为用于存储风能和太阳能的大型熔融电池的潜在电解质。我们感兴趣的是其中的第三种——作为大型电池的电解质。可以通过温度、盐的选择或添加剂来“调整”这些电池的导电性。要知道如何，我们将学习更多关于各种熔盐如何导电的知识。******对于策略II，建议使用离子液体。为了降低炼油厂的能耗，我们希望通过将酸性离子液体的降温能力与多孔固体的产物控制能力相结合来降低石油裂解的操作温度，但要做到这一点，我们需要了解酸性离子液体所使用的分子机制。为了减少二氧化碳排放到大气中，尽管有许多研究人员在研究各种各样的材料，我们正在与工程师Amr Henni合作，他喜欢泥浆的新想法，其中一些涉及离子液体。在这里，我们打算测试这些浆料的离子化程度，并利用我们以前对二氧化碳吸附的知识来设计更好的浆料来捕获二氧化碳。*****

This project will discover more about the molecular properties of molten salts and ionic liquids.****** The "two degree scenario" is a worldwide goal, supported by the United Nations, to limit world temperature increases to only 2 degrees above what they were before industrialization in the 1800s. Our research is in support of this goal. To achieve this goal, a reduction in greenhouse gas emission rates is needed. The use of fossil fuels (coal/gas/oil) in 2013 constituted 81% of worldwide energy sources, and in a feasible plan, by 2050 this only has to come down to 40% to achieve the two degree scenario. Hence, in my lifetime, there are two important simultaneous strategies to be pursued for improving the sustainability (economic and environmental) of worldwide energy production and consumption:***--Strategy I: switch some industries from fossil fuels to alternative fuels of lower environmental impact. ***--Strategy II: reduce the two principal environmental costs of fossil fuel use: power consumption at mines/wells/refineries/power-plants, and CO2 exhaust to the atmosphere. Currently these two environmental sustainability Strategies are not economically sustainable. ****** Chemists can play an important role if they can find materials that can render these Strategies economically sustainable. Molten salts and ionic liquids (low-melting molten salts) have been proposed in these regards, but more of the basic understanding of these materials is needed to make their use for Strategies I and II sustainable.****** For Strategy I, molten salts have seen recent development: for thermal energy storage in solar-to-steam electricity generation, as a coolant in next-generation nuclear power plants, and as potential electrolytes in massive molten batteries proposed for storage of wind and solar power. We are interested in the third of these -- as electrolytes in massive batteries. It is possible to "tune" the conductivity within these batteries with temperature, salt selection, or additives. To know how, we will learn more about how various molten salts conduct electricity.****** For Strategy II, ionic liquids are proposed. To reduce power consumption at refineries, we would like to reduce the operating temperature of petroleum cracking by merging the reduced-temperature ability of acidic ionic liquids with the product-control abilities of porous solids, but to do this, we need to understand the molecular mechanisms used by the acidic ionic liquids. To reduce CO2 exhaust to the atmosphere, although there are many researchers studying various materials for this, we are in collaboration with engineer Amr Henni who likes the very new idea of slurries, some of which involve ionic liquids. Here we intend on testing how ionic some of these slurries are, and using our previous knowledge on CO2 adsorption to design better slurries for CO2 capture.*****