Sustainable porous and non-porous plastic ionic crystals

This proposal focuses on studying the structure and properties of ionic liquids based on tetrabutylphosphonium cations and various carboxylate anions. These ionic liquids exhibit unique plastic crystal behaviour, which combines molecular mobility within a crystalline structure, making them promising for use in energy storage devices, gas absorption, and deep eutectic solvents. The research aims to explore how the structure of these ionic liquids changes with temperature, particularly during solid-solid transitions, using temperature-controlled synchrotron WAXS. The goal is to understand the link between molecular structure and plastic crystal behaviour, and whether it persists in porous suspensions, which could lead to novel applications in selective gas absorption. We requests 9 shifts at BM26 beamline to conduct structural studies, with the results expected to advance the design of next-generation ionic liquids.