Research Statement

Research Statement

[Name]

Current Research:

The emphasis of my current research is to study the local structure and transport properties of Ionic Liquids (ILs), using multidimensional Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) techniques. Ionic Liquids are molten salts with a melting point below 100C. Some of the structures of common Ionic Liquids are shown in figure 1. Most Ionic Liquids are liquid at ambient temperature, due to the flexible anions and dissymmetric captions. Some of the properties of Ionic liquids, such as, high thermal stability, non volatility, good ionic conductivity and flexibility make it useful for various applications including organic synthesis, photochemistry, catalysis, electrochemistry and electrochemical systems.

My research will focus on the Ionic Liquids associated with electrochemical systems, including, lithium batteries, fuel cells, super-capacitors and solar cells. At present, most of the energy production is derived from non-renewable energy resources, with fossil fuels being the most prominent. The problem with fossil fuels is that there are various environmental problems associated with its use, like global warming. One way to overcome this problem is to use renewable sources of energy to drive internal combustion engines. Energy storage devices, such as, lithium batteries, fuel cells, solar cells and super capacitors are being considered as alternative sources of energy. The use of these alternative energy storing mediums will improve sustainability, decreasing environmental pollution. One of the primary challenges in the commercial availability of these devices is the safety concern, due to the presence of conventional volatile organic solvents. Ionic liquids are non-volatile, and are, therefore, ideal to overcome this problem.

Understanding the local structure and transport properties of Ionic Liquids is necessary, in order to make them useful for electrochemical applications. Among the few analytical techniques available today to study the local structure and transport properties of Ionic Liquids, NMR is one of the most powerful techniques. NMR data ...