Special Issue "Alternative Solvents for Green Chemistry"
A special issue of Sustainable Chemistry (ISSN 2673-4079).
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 December 2021.
Special Issue Editors
Interests: ionic liquids; chemical engineering; thermodynamic study; phase equilibria; separation processes
Special Issues and Collections in MDPI journals
Interests: separation/purification processes; aqueous biphasic systems; solubilisation and aggregation mechanisms; biomass valorisation
Special Issues and Collections in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Sustainable or green chemistry aims to design products or processes that eliminate or minimize the use and production of hazardous compounds. Nowadays, an emerging research field of interest is the use of alternative solvents such as ionic liquids (ILs) and deep eutectic solvents (DES). ILs have become one of the increasingly popular “green” media for engineers, not only due to their remarkable properties but also for their recyclability. Additionally, ILs can be tailored for specific applications by accurately selecting the cation and/or the anion. More recently, DES are evolving as a new class of task-specific solvents that can overcome the major handicaps of some ILs, namely nonbiodegradability, complex synthesis and purification processes, and high cost.
Dr. Ana B. PereiroDr. João M. M. Araújo
Guest Editors
Manuscript Submission Information
Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All papers will be peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.
Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainable Chemistry is an international peer-reviewed open access quarterly journal published by MDPI.
Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1000 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.
Keywords
- Green solvents
- Ionic liquids
- Deep eutectic solvents
- Sustainability
Planned Papers
The below list represents only planned manuscripts. Some of these manuscripts have not been received by the Editorial Office yet. Papers submitted to MDPI journals are subject to peer-review.
Title: An overview on the recent advances in alternative solvents as stabilizers of proteins, enzymes and nucleic acids
Authors: Jéssica Almeida, Ana Margarida Loureiro, Emanuel V. Capela, Mara G. Freire, Ana P. M. Tavares
Abstract: Nowadays, the use of alternative solvents such as ionic liquids (ILs) and deep eutectic solvents (DES) in chemical, biotechnology and biomedical applications has been increasing. For instance, they present high relevance for biomolecules since solubility, structure stability and biological activity of biomolecules can be significantly enhanced rather than most of the traditional solvents. Therefore, this review aims to provide an outlook on the recent efforts and technological developments made on the use of ILs and DES for the stabilization and activation of proteins, enzymes and nucleic acids. The most relevant IL- and DES-based formulations reported for several biomolecules are herein described and the main molecular mechanisms underneath the increased stability promoted by these formulations are addressed, while highlighting their key advantages for the biotechnology and biomedical fields.
Title: Alkaline Iodide Deep Eutectic Solvents as alternative electrolytes for Dye Sensitized Solar Cells
Author: Hugo Cruz and Luis Branco
Abstract:
Different alkaline deep eutectic solvents (DES) such as LiI:nEG, NaI:nEG and KI:nEG have been tested as electrolytes for dye sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). These DSSCs were prepared using pure DES or alternatively DES combined with different amounts of iodine (I2). The most important parameters such as open circuit voltage (VOC), short circuit current density (JSC), fill factor (FF) and the overall conversion efficiency (η) were evaluated. Some DES seems to be promising candidates for DSSC applications, since they present higher VOC (up to 140 mV), similar FF values but less current density values, when compared with a reference electrolyte in the same experimental conditions. Additionally, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) has been performed to elucidate the charge transfer and transport processes that occur in DSSCs. The values of different resistance (W.cm2) phenomena and recombination/relaxation time (s) for each process have been calculated. The best-performance was obtained for DES-based electrolyte, KI:EG (containing 0.5 mol% I2) showing an efficiency of 2.3%. The efficiency of this DES-based electrolyte is comparable to other literature systems but the device stability is higher (only after 7 months the performance of the device drop to 60%).
Title: Green Chemistry Approach for Fabrication of Polymer Composites
Author: Sabu Thomas
Abstract:
Solvents are inevitable part of industries. They are widely used in manufacturing and processing industries. Despite of numerous controlling measures taken; solvents contaminate our environment to a vast extend. Green and sustainable solvents have been a matter of growing interest within the research community over few years due to the increasing environmental concerns. Solvents are categorized ‘green’ based on their non-volatility and non-flammability. The use of ionic liquids, super critical carbon dioxide and aqueous solvents for the fabrication of polymer composites are discussed in this review. The progress of utilizing solvent free approaches for polymer composite preparation and efforts to produce new biobased solvents are also summarized.