For many years, the related fields of molten salts and ionic liquids have drifted apart, to their mutual detriment. Both molten salts and ionic liquids are liquid salts containing only ions - all that is different is the temperature! Both fields involve the study of Coulombic fluids for academic and industrial purposes; both employ the same principles; both require skilled practitioners; both speak the same language; all then that is truly different is their semantics, and how superficial is that? The editors of this book, recognising that there was so much knowledge, both empirical and theoretical, which can be passed from the molten salt community to the ionic liquid community, and vice versa, organised a landmark meeting in Tunisia, designed to bridge the gap and heal the rift. Leaders from both communities met for a week for a mutual exchange, with a high tutorial content intermixed with cutting edge findings. This volume is a condensate of the principal offerings of that week, and emphasises the success which was achieved. Indeed, four future biannual meetings, under the title of “EUCHEM Conferences on Molten Salts and Ionic Liquids”, have now been planned as a direct result of this meeting of minds. Topics discussed in this volume include structure, dynamics, electrochemistry, interfacial and thermodynamic properties, spectroscopy, synthesis, and theoretical studies. Experimental and theoretical methods for investigating these data are elaborated, as are techniques for data collection and analysis. This book represents the first serious discussion on the transfer of these methods and techniques between the differing temperature regimes, and is a major contribution to the future of both fields.

The papers included in this issue of ECS Transactions were originally presented in the symposium ¿Molten Salts and Ionic Liquids 16¿, held during the PRiME 2008 joint international meeting of The Electrochemical Society and The Electrochemical Society of Japan, with the technical cosponsorship of the Japan Society of Applied Physics, the Korean Electrochemical Society, the Electrochemistry Division of the Royal Australian Chemical Institute, and the Chinese Society of Electrochemistry. This meeting was held in Honolulu, Hawaii, from October 12 to 17, 2008.

Written to record and report on recent research progresses in the field of molten salts, Molten Salts Chemistry and Technology focuses on molten salts and ionic liquids for sustainable supply and application of materials. Including coverage of molten salt reactors, electrodeposition, aluminium electrolysis, electrochemistry, and electrowinning, the text provides researchers and postgraduate students with applications include energy conversion (solar cells and fuel cells), heat storage, green solvents, metallurgy, nuclear industry, pharmaceutics and biotechnology.

This issue of ECS Transactions presents the latest research on systems and processes involving molten salts and room temperature ionic liquids. The studies compiled include both basic and applied research covering a wide range of topics. The main topics discussed in this volume include solution properties; reactions and separations; biochemical, biomedical, and green processes; electrodeposition; electrochemical power; corrosion and other electrochemical processes; and nuclear chemistry.

Molten salts and fused media provide the key properties and the theory of molten salts, as well as aspects of fused salts chemistry, helping you generate new ideas and applications for fused salts. Molten Salts Chemistry: From Lab to Applications examines how the electrical and thermal properties of molten salts, and generally low vapour pressure are well adapted to high temperature chemistry, enabling fast reaction rates. It also explains how their ability to dissolve many inorganic compounds such as oxides, nitrides, carbides and other salts make molten salts ideal as solvents in electrometallurgy, metal coating, treatment of by-products and energy conversion. This book also reviews newer applications of molten salts including materials for energy storage such as carbon nano-particles for efficient super capacitors, high capacity molten salt batteries and for heat transport and storage in solar plants. In addition, owing to their high thermal stability, they are considered as ideal candidates for the development of safer nuclear reactors and for the treatment of nuclear waste, especially to separate actinides from lanthanides by electrorefining. Explains the theory and properties of molten salts to help scientists understand these unique liquids Provides an ideal introduction to this expanding field Illustrated text with key real-life applications of molten salts in synthesis, energy, nuclear, and metal extraction