ABSTRACT

Chemistry is dominated by the research on different kinds of solution to understand the behaviour of molecules in the solution phase and in molecular solvents. The widespread use of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in many industrial chemical processes is an issue of great environmental concern. It is an extremely important task to search of potentially green and environment friendly alternatives for VOCs. At least a partial solution to this problem may offer by a novel class of molten salts referred to as ionic liquids possess unique combination of particular properties, unlike molecular liquids, namely negligible vapour pressure (~ 10- 11 to 10-10 bar at room temperature), wide thermal window (~ -50 °C to +250 °C), wide electrochemical window (~ ±3 Volt vs. NHE), non-flammability, high ionic conductivity and a highly solvating capacity for organic, inorganic and organometallic compounds. This unique combination of particular properties leads them to be exploited as “green solvents” and giving them increasing attention in academic and industrial research. The research areas on ionic  liquids are growing very rapidly and the potential application are numerous, mainly due to the fact that simple changes in the cation and anion combinations or the nature of the moieties attached to each ion allow the physical properties of ionic liquids such as hydrophobicity, viscosity, density, coordinating ability, ion selectivity, and chemical and electrochemical stability to be tailored for specific applications. Proposed talk will include the brief introduction of ionic liquids and understanding unique thermophysical properties of novel ionic liquids for metal ion extraction, CO2 capture, desulphurization of fuels and current research trends on ionic liquids as solvents for the chemical industry will be discussed.

About the Speaker: Dr. Gardas did his PhD from VNSGU Surat and joined University of Coimbra and University of Aveiro, Portugal, and Queen’s University Belfast, UK for his postdoctoral research on physico-chemical properties and applications of ionic liquids. He joined IIT Madras, in 2010, as an Assistant Professor in Chemistry, and promoted to full Professor in 2020. Dr. Gardas’ research group focusses on ‘Chemical Thermodynamics’ and ‘Phase Equilibria’ of industrially important solvents and their mixtures. He has more than 20-years of research and 10-years of teaching experience. So far, he completed 8 projects (as PI and Co-PI) worth more than Rs. 6.5 crores, guided 11 Ph.D. and 15 M.Sc. project students. Co-authored 4 patents, 4 book-chapters, 7 conference papers and 165 research publications which received more than 6215 citations with h-index = 38 and average citations per paper of above 36. He delivered more than 170 invited talks and guest lectures In recognition of his outstanding performance as a researcher, Dr. Gardas has been bestowed with several awards by prestigious institutes/ societies.

Keywords: Sustainable Developments, molecular solvents