Honors College Senior Thesis Presentations
Academic Level at Time of Presentation
Senior
Major
Materials Science/Polymer Chemistry
Minor
Mathematics and Physics
List all Project Mentors & Advisor(s)
Dr. Kevin Miller
Presentation Format
Oral Presentation
Abstract/Description
Ionic polymers that are designed to contain ionic liquids (ILs) in their backbones have been shown to exhibit a high degree of variability through changing the type of ionic character and the location of the ionic region within the molecule. This large amount of variability in both the structure and characteristics of ILs allows researchers to design task-specific ionic polymers and ILs for a variety of applications including gas separation membranes and solid polymer electrolytes. The synthesis of a specific class of ILs and ionenes through the incorporation of urethane groups with imidazolium rings by reacting carbonyl diimidazole with various alcohols, followed by aminopropyl imidazole, quaternization with an alkyl halide, and finally an anion exchange with lithium bis(trifluoromethyl sulfonyl)imide will be explored. Each IL and ionene will be characterized by NMR spectroscopy, their thermal properties will be explored through differential scanning calorimetry and thermogravimetric analysis, and both density and viscosity over a temperature range will be measured. This synthesis pathway is novel because it explores a new subclass of tunable ILs and ionenes that can be created through a non-isocyanate approach and have the potential to be incorporated into IL-containing polymers.
Spring Scholars Week 2023 Event
Honors College Senior Thesis Presentations
Physiochemical Properties of Urethane-Containing Ionic Liquids and Ionenes from a Non-Isocyanate Synthetic Approach
Ionic polymers that are designed to contain ionic liquids (ILs) in their backbones have been shown to exhibit a high degree of variability through changing the type of ionic character and the location of the ionic region within the molecule. This large amount of variability in both the structure and characteristics of ILs allows researchers to design task-specific ionic polymers and ILs for a variety of applications including gas separation membranes and solid polymer electrolytes. The synthesis of a specific class of ILs and ionenes through the incorporation of urethane groups with imidazolium rings by reacting carbonyl diimidazole with various alcohols, followed by aminopropyl imidazole, quaternization with an alkyl halide, and finally an anion exchange with lithium bis(trifluoromethyl sulfonyl)imide will be explored. Each IL and ionene will be characterized by NMR spectroscopy, their thermal properties will be explored through differential scanning calorimetry and thermogravimetric analysis, and both density and viscosity over a temperature range will be measured. This synthesis pathway is novel because it explores a new subclass of tunable ILs and ionenes that can be created through a non-isocyanate approach and have the potential to be incorporated into IL-containing polymers.