3. Physico-chemical properties

When considering the use of an ionic liquid for process development, the solvent must be selected on the basis of its properties, which must themselves best meet the requirements of the intended process. If resources permit, it may even be possible to synthesize a new task-specific ionic liquid that will be particularly well suited to the application. We must emphasize, however, that trade-offs will inevitably have to be made, as the size and structure of cations and anions influence all properties, so that by improving one of them through a particular choice, it is possible to deteriorate one or more other properties.

For electrochemical applications, the following properties are essential:

• melting temperature: we are targeting applications using a liquid electrolyte;

• the decomposition...