Designing ionic liquids for absorptive cooling

A computational methodology for designing ionic liquids (ILs) with an enhanced water absorption capacity to be used in absorption-refrigeration systems is presented here. It is based on increasing the hydrogen bond (HB)-acceptor ability of the anion and combining it with a cation that presents a weak cation-anion interaction. Employing this strategy, we identified and prepared three novel dianionic ILs with an enhanced water absorption capacity, larger than LiBr.

This work was financed by national funding from Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT), European Union, QREN, FEDER and COMPETE through the projects PTDC/QUI-QUI/ 121520/2010, PEst-C/CTM/LA0011/2013 and PEst-C/EQB/ LA0020/2013. Kiki A. Kurnia acknowledges FCT for the postdoctoral grant SFRH/BPD/88101/2012.