Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul

The Institute of Chemistry (ICh) at Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul consists of three departments: Department of Inorganic Chemistry, Department of Physical Chemistry and Department of Organic Chemistry. This institution provides challenging undergraduate and graduate courses, as well as a broad range of chemistry related research programs. Nowadays, it is considered one of the most important human resource chemistry research centers in Brazil and Latin America and, yearly, around 50 new chemists graduate at the ICh.
The Laboratory of Technological Processes and Catalysis of the ICh acquired expertise in several research fields that suit the objectives of the APACHE proposal. The preparation of ionic liquids is well established within our group and this will provide a solid basis for exploring novel applications together with the partner institutions, dealing with imidazolium ionic liquid-functionalized graphene-based aerogels/sponges. These innovative materials will be used for the adsorption of air pollutants and VOCs as coating in archive boxes and as a filter inside display cases.

Expertise and infrastructure related to the project

The Institute of Chemistry (ICh) at Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul has the physical, technological and instrumental infrastructure for the preparation of ionic liquids and graphene-based aerogels/sponges, and the characterization of these materials. Equipment’s are accessible at its Analytical Centre, the Multi-user Laboratory of Thermal Analyses, the Centre of Microscopy and the Centre of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology. The following experimental techniques are available within the mentioned facilities: rheology and DMTA measurements, thermal characterization (TGA-FTIR, DSC), morphological study (SAXS, DLS, TEM, SEM, AFM) and structure characterization (FTIR, XRD solid and liquid state NMR) and dielectric spectroscopy measurements.