(-75 to 459 °C) and could therefore be excellent liquid thermal storage media and heat transfer fluids. Waste recycling ILs can aid the recycling of synthetic goods, plastics, and metals. They offer the specificity required to separate similar compounds from each other, such as separating polymers in plastic waste streams. This has been achieved using lower temperature extraction processes than current approaches and could help avoid incinerating plastics or dumping them in landfill. Batteries ILs can replace water as the electrolyte in metal-air batteries. ILs are attractive because of their low vapor pressure. Furthermore, ILs have an electrochemical window of up to six volts (versus 1.23 for water) supporting more energy-dense metals. Energy densities from 900 to 1600 watt-hours per kilogram appear possible. Dispersing agent ILs can act as dispersing agents in paints to enhance finish, appearance and drying properties. ILs are used for dispersing nanomaterials at IOLITEC. Carbon capture ILs and amines have been investigated for capturing carbon dioxide and purifying natural gas. Tribology Some ionic liquids have been shown to reduce friction and wear in basic tribological testing, and their polar nature makes them candidate lubricants for tribotronic applications. While the comparatively high cost of ionic liquids currently prevents their use as neat lubricants, adding ionic liquids in concentrations as low as 0.5 wt% may significantly alter the lubricating performance of conventional base oils. Thus, the current focus of research is on using ionic liquids as additives to lubricating oils, often with the motivation to replace widely used, ecologically harmful lubricant additives. However, the claimed ecological advantage of ionic liquids has been questioned repeatedly and is yet to be demonstrated from a lifecycle perspective. Safety Ionic liquids' low volatility effectively eliminates a major pathway for environmental release and contamination. Ionic liquids' aquatic toxicity is as severe as or more so than many current solvents. Ultrasound can degrade solutions of imidazolium-based ionic liquids with hydrogen peroxide and acetic acid to relatively innocuous compounds. Despite low vapor pressure many ionic liquids are combustible. See also MDynaMix software for ionic liquids simulations 1-Butyl-3-methylimidazolium hexafluorophosphate (BMIM-PF6) for an often encountered ionic liquid Trioctylmethylammonium bis(trifluoromethyl-sulfonyl)imide Aza-Baylis–Hillman reaction for the use of a chiral ionic liquid in asymmetric synthesis. Ionic liquids in carbon capture NanoFlowcell which uses ionic liquid in its car batteries Ioliomics, or studies of ions in liquids References External links Ionic Liquids Biological Effects Database , free database on toxicology and