Mar 20 2012
International Experts in the field of ionic liquids visited San Sebastian on 15 March to participate in the PIL-to MARKET workshop organized by IK4-CIDETEC and dedicated to the industrial applications of new materials.
International experts in Ionic Liquids attend a workshop organized by IK4-CIDETEC in San Sebastian.
The event is part of the European PIL-to-MARKET project, whose objective is the joint work between the technological centre specialised in new materials, IK4-CIDETEC and Solvionic, a French company in the field of ionic liquids, to develop and commercialise new polymer ionic liquids. The project, under the PEOPLE of the Seventh Framework Programme, with a budget of around 500,000 Euros, tries to combine the technological knowledge of the centre from San Sebastian and the commercial experience of the French Company.
The ionic liquids are salts in a liquid state at room temperature. Because of their physical properties, they are used as solvents which are more ecological and safe in industrial applications, given that they are not volatile or inflammable. Polymer ionic liquids combine some properties of ionic liquids and some from polymers, like their mechanical stability and three dimensional structure.
Among the experts who visited the San Sebastian Technology Park are Markus Antonietti, director of the Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces from Germany; Giovanni B. Appetecchi, of the Italian National Agency for New Technologies; and Margarida Costa Gomes, of the Blaise Pascal University in France.
The workshop demonstrated the synthesis of new polymer ionic liquids which can be used as electrolytes in electrochemical apparatus. Based on a material developed at IK4-CIDETEC, structural modifications have been made to improve its mechanical properties and performance.