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