What’s New with Airable? – DES
March 25, 2022
This week in the lab, Dylan Karis has been investigating the synthesis of soy-based deep eutectic solvents (DESs). DESs are a class of ionic liquid defined by the unique morphology applied to their assembly. Whereas ionic liquids are discrete 1:1 blends of positively and negatively charged ions, DESs may be more complex mixtures. To make DESs, Dr. Karis utilizes soy fatty acid, which is easily obtainable from soybean oil, and a quaternary amine.
The goal of this project is to produce DESs that are inexpensive, biodegradable, and non-toxic to be used in metallurgic applications such as precious metal extraction. Additional applications include: electropolishing (process in the development of superconductors), chemical separations, electrolytes for lithium-ion or redox flow batteries, power generation, biocatalysis, biomass processing, nanomaterials synthesis, and lastly pharmaceuticals and medical research.
For more information about Airable and our mission for sustainability, check out our website: https://www.airableresearchlab.com/.
