Ut-battelle, Inc.

University of Tennessee Research Foundation

Virginia Tech Intellectual Properties, Inc.

Huimin Luo

Sheng Dai

Jun Qu

Bruce A Moyer

John William Freiderich

Jing-Fang Huang

Jianlin Li

Xiao-Guang Sun

Richard T Mayes

Ilias Belharouak

Yaocai Bai

Carter W Abney

Shannon Mark Mahurin

Jinshui Zhang

Peter Blau

Rose Ann Boll

De-en Jiang

Congmin Wang

Jason Richard Bell

Dmitriy Dolzhnikov

Je Seung Lee

Gary A Baker

John J Truhan, Jr

Xueguang Jiang

Xin He

Halie J Martin

Rui Qiao

Tao Wang

Prashant Bagri

A method for converting amorphous boron nitride to crystalline boron nitride, the method comprising immersing the amorphous boron nitride into anhydrous molten magnesium chloride maintained within a temperature range of 720° C.-820° C. while the amorphous boron nitride is cathodically polarized at a voltage within a range of −2.2V to −2.8V for a period of time of at least 2 minutes to result in conversion of the amorphous boron nitride to the crystalline form. Also described herein is a method for converting an amorphous carbon material to a crystalline carbon material, the method comprising immersing said amorphous carbon material into anhydrous molten magnesium chloride maintained within a temperature range of 780° C.-820° C. while the amorphous carbon material is cathodically polarized at a voltage within a range of −2.2V to −2.8V for a period of time of at least 2 minutes to result in conversion of the amorphous carbon material to the crystalline form.

Method for electrochemical transformation of amorphous material to crystalline material

A method for relithiating cathode material from spent lithium-based batteries, the method comprising: (i) mixing delithiated cathode material and a lithium salt with an ionic liquid in which the lithium salt is at least partially soluble to form an initial mixture; (ii) heating the initial mixture to a temperature of 100° C. to 300° C. to result in relithiation of the delithiated cathode material; and (iii) separating the ionic liquid from the relithiated cathode material; wherein, in embodiments, the cathode material is a lithium metal oxide, wherein the metal is selected from the group consisting of Ni, Co, Fe, Mn, Al, Zr, Ti, Nb, and combinations thereof, or wherein the cathode material has the formula LiNiMnCoO, wherein x>0, y>0, z>0, and x+y+z=1; wherein, in some embodiments, the ionic liquid has a nitrogen-containing cationic portion, such as an imidazolium ionic liquid.

Direct regeneration of lithium ion cathodes by ionothermal relithiation

A method for producing polyacrylonitrile (PAN) fiber, the method comprising: (i) mixing PAN with an ionic liquid in which the PAN is soluble to produce a PAN composite melt in which the PAN is dissolved in the ionic liquid; (ii) melt spinning the PAN composite melt to produce the PAN fiber; and (iii) washing the PAN fiber with a solvent in which the ionic liquid is soluble to substantially remove the ionic liquid from the PAN fiber. Also described herein is a method for producing carbon fiber from the PAN fiber as produced above, the method comprising oxidatively stabilizing the PAN fiber produced in step (iii), followed by carbonizing the stabilized PAN fiber to produce the carbon fiber. The initially produced PAN fiber, stabilized PAN fiber, resulting carbon fiber, and articles made thereof are also described.

Plasticized melt spinning process using ionic liquids for production of polyacrylonitrile fibers

An ionic liquid composition having the following generic structural formula: wherein Z is N or P, and R, R, R, and Rare independently selected from hydrogen atom and hydrocarbon groups having one to four carbon atoms with optional interconnection to form a cyclic group that includes Z, and wherein R, R, R, and Rare all hydrocarbon groups when Z is P, and Xis a phosphorus-containing or carboxylate anion, particularly an organophosphate, organophosphonate, or organophosphinate anion, or a thio-substituted analog thereof containing hydrocarbon groups with at least three carbon atoms. Also described are lubricant compositions comprising the above ionic liquid and a base lubricant, wherein the ionic liquid is dissolved in the base lubricant. Further described are methods for applying the ionic liquid or lubricant composition onto a mechanical device for which lubrication is beneficial, with resulting improvement in friction reduction, wear rate, and/or corrosion inhibition.

Ionic liquids containing quaternary ammonium and phosphonium cations, and their use as environmentally friendly lubricant additives

A method for extracting a rare earth element from a rare earth-containing substance, the method comprising mixing the rare earth-containing substance with a protic ionic liquid, such as: wherein Ris selected from hydrogen atom and hydrocarbon groups containing 1 to 6 carbon atoms; Rand Rare independently selected from hydrocarbon groups containing 1 to 12 carbon atoms; and Xis an anionic species; to produce a composition of the formula (RE)(amide)Xat least partially dissolved in the protic ionic liquid, wherein RE is at least one rare earth element having an atomic number selected from 39, 57-71, and 90-103; y is 2-6; z is a number that charge balances the total positive charge of RE; and the amide is the conjugate base of the cationic portion of the protic ionic liquid of Formula (1) and has the following formula: 

Rare earth amide compositions

A heat transfer (exchange) composition comprising a halide salt matrix having dispersed therein nanoparticles comprising elemental carbon in the absence of water and surfactants, wherein said halide is fluoride or chloride, wherein the halide salt may be an alkali halide salt (e.g., lithium fluoride, sodium fluoride, potassium fluoride, rubidium fluoride, sodium chloride, potassium chloride, rubidium chloride, and eutectic mixtures thereof) or an alkaline earth halide salt (e.g., fluoride or chloride salt of beryllium, magnesium, calcium, strontium, or barium), and wherein the nanoparticles comprising elemental carbon may be solid or hollow, and wherein the composition may further include nanoparticles comprising a fissile material (e.g., U, Th, or Pu) dispersed within the composition. Molten salt reactors (MSRs) containing these heat transfer compositions in coolant loops in thermal exchange with a reactor core, as well operation of such MSRs, are also described.

Molten salt compositions with enhanced heat transfer and reduced corrosion properties

A method of thermally insulating a surface, the method comprising applying a coating of a thermally insulating composition onto said surface, wherein said thermally insulating composition comprises: (i) hollow spherical nanoparticles having a mean particle size of less than 800 nm in diameter and a particle size distribution in which at least 90% of the hollow spherical nanoparticles have a size within &#xb1;20% of said mean particle size, and a first layer of cationic or anionic molecules attached to said surfaces of the hollow spherical nanoparticles; and (ii) a second layer of molecules of opposite charge to the first layer of molecules, wherein said second layer of molecules of opposite charge are ionically associated with said first layer of molecules, wherein the molecules in said second layer have at least eight carbon atoms.

Porous thermally insulating compositions containing hollow spherical nanoparticles

Methods for liquid extraction of rare earth metals using ionic liquids

An ionic liquid composition having the following generic structural formula: wherein R, R, R, and Rare equivalent and selected from hydrocarbon groups containing at least three carbon atoms, and Xis a phosphorus-containing anion, particularly an organophosphate, organophosphonate, or organophosphinate anion, or a thio-substituted analog thereof containing hydrocarbon groups with at least three carbon atoms. Also described are lubricant compositions comprising the above ionic liquid and a base oil, wherein the ionic liquid is dissolved in the base oil. Further described are methods for applying the ionic liquid or lubricant composition onto a mechanical device for which lubrication is beneficial, with resulting improvement in friction reduction, wear rate, and/or corrosion inhibition.

Ionic liquids containing symmetric quaternary phosphonium cations and phosphorus-containing anions, and their use as lubricant additives

An ionic liquid composition having the following chemical structural formula: wherein R, R, R, and Rare independently selected from hydrocarbon groups containing at least 1 and up to 20 carbon atoms, and Xis a cyclic anion that possesses a negatively-charged group reactive with a gaseous electrophilic species, particularly carbon dioxide or sulfur dioxide. Methods for capturing a gaseous electrophilic species, such as COor SO, by contacting the gaseous electrophilic species with an ionic liquid according to Formula (1) are also described.

Phosphonium-based ionic liquids and their use in the capture of polluting gases

A method for conversion coating a magnesium-containing surface, the method comprising contacting the magnesium-containing surface with an ionic liquid compound under conditions that result in decomposition of the ionic liquid compound to produce a conversion coated magnesium-containing surface having a substantially improved corrosion resistance relative to the magnesium-containing surface before said conversion coating. Also described are the resulting conversion-coated magnesium-containing surface, as well as mechanical components and devices containing the conversion-coated magnesium-containing surface.

Corrosion prevention of magnesium surfaces via surface conversion treatments using ionic liquids

A method for extracting a radioisotope from an aqueous solution, the method comprising: a) intimately mixing a non-chelating ionic liquid with the aqueous solution to transfer at least a portion of said radioisotope to said non-chelating ionic liquid; and b) separating the non-chelating ionic liquid from the aqueous solution. In preferred embodiments, the method achieves an extraction efficiency of at least 80%, or a separation factor of at least 1&#xd7;10when more than one radioisotope is included in the aqueous solution. In particular embodiments, the method is applied to the separation of medical isotopes pairs, such as Th from Ac (Th-229/Ac-225, Ac-227/Th-227), or Ra from Ac (Ac-225 and Ra-225, Ac-227 and Ra-223), or Ra from Th (Th-227 and Ra-223, Th-229 and Ra-225).

Methods for separating medical isotopes using ionic liquids

The invention is directed to an ionic liquid comprising (i) a cationic portion containing a complex of a silver (I) ion and one or more neutral ligands selected from organoamides, organoamines, olefins, and organonitriles, and (ii) an anionic portion having the chemical formula wherein m and n are independently 0 or an integer of 1 or above, and p is 0 or 1, provided that when p is 0, the group &#x2014;N&#x2014;SO&#x2014;(CF)CFsubtended by p is replaced with an oxide atom connected to the shown sulfur atom. The invention is also directed to a method for separating an olefin from an olefin-paraffin mixture by passing the mixture through a layer of the ionic liquid described above.

Ionic liquids for separation of olefin-paraffin mixtures

The invention is directed to a method for producing titanium dioxide nanotubes, the method comprising anodizing titanium metal in contact with an electrolytic medium containing an ionic liquid. The invention is also directed to the resulting titanium dioxide nanotubes, as well as devices incorporating the nanotubes, such as photovoltaic devices, hydrogen generation devices, and hydrogen detection devices.

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Knoxville, TN, United States of America

Huimin Luo