Nanocarbons and ionic liquids: fundamental knowledge for sustainable technologies in applications

Abstract

Zero, one and two-dimensional carbon nanomaterials are at the scientific forefront in nanotechnology, materials science, and electronic, electrochemical or optical devices, to name just a few potential and present applications. Many of the chemical and physical processes involving carbon nanomaterials could benefit from solution-phase methods for synthesis, preparation, purification or transfer onto substrates. But the exfoliation of nanotubes or grapheme sheets, and their stabilization in suspensions are still not sufficiently well understood in terms of the fundamental concepts of colloidal and interfacial physical chemistry, thus hindering the development of large-scale applications. In electrochemical devices, the liquid phases of interest are ionic, either aqueous or organic electrolytes. Conventional media are not necessarily appropriate for promising designs of fuel cells and solar cells. Here, room-temperature ionic liquids have a number of advantages, such as high ionic density, chemical and thermal stability, non-volatility, large electrochemical window and recyclability. The main objective of this proposal is to improve the current understanding of the interfaces between ionic liquids and carbon nano-objects, opening possibilities for application of these promising materials and solvents. Efficient use requires the establishment of relations between the molecular structure and interactions, and resulting properties. This project is organised into two types of task: preparatory tasks to provide materials and methods, and then tasks centred on the study of nanocarbon-ionic liquid systems. Arguments of methodology and scientific disciplines led us to define one experimental preparatory task concerning the preparation of nanocarbon materials and the synthesis of specific ionic liquids. The second preparatory task concerns synthesis in silico, i.e., the construction of molecular interaction models. The outcomes of these two tasks will be put to use, together, in three tasks dedicated to physico-chemical understanding. We chose to arrange these three tasks by dimensionality of the nanocarbons for several reasons, including the reproducibility of materials, specificities of the experimental and simulation methods required, and also the types of application envisioned (that orient towards more detailed study of certain properties).