Green Science Alliance Developed Ionic Liquid Type Antistatic Agent Which Can Keep High Conductivity for a Long-Term Usage with High Water Resistance

KAWANISHI-CITY, Japan, Nov. 16, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Green Science Alliance developed ionic liquid type antistatic agent which can keep high conductivity for a long-term usage with high water resistance. One can use this type of newly developed products into various types of polymer, resin, plastic and rubber and applied as antistatic agent. 

Substance is composed of atoms, molecules which possess plus, minus charge and in normal state, substance exists as electrically neutral. When 2 substances contact each other, electrons move from one of the substances to the other and cause electrically potential bias especially at the substance boundary. And when these 2 substances are separated, electrical potential bias remains particularly at insulators such as polymer, plastic, resin and rubber, etc. This phenomenon is the main reason for static electricity. Static electricity can cause fire, electrostatic state destruction, failure of painting and printing, dust adhesion, etc., which would end up in low industrial efficiency at production stage. For these problems, antistatic agent can improve conductivity of added substance and eliminate the static electricity accumulation and influence. 

Typical antistatic agents are inorganic filler, conductive polymer and surfactants etc. However, transparency will be lost when inorganic filler or conductive polymers are used and sometimes alter the added substance characteristics especially when large amount of antistatic is added. Furthermore, in the case of surfactant type antistatic agent, conductivity may vary depending on the temperature. In addition, surfactant may bleed out to the substance surface (surfactant will squeeze out to the surface from inside of the substance) and lose conductivity when surfactant is eliminated or wiped off from the substance surface.

In contrast, when ionic liquid type antistatic agent is applied, it spreads out at the surface with optimized electrical potential and mitigates the charge bias in the substance. With this mechanism, conductivity would not change much depending on the temperature as it was a problematic issue for surfactant type antistatic agent. Another issue was losing transparency when inorganic filler or conductive polymer were applied as antistatic agent. In this regard, ionic liquid type antistatic agent has advantage because they are transparent in general. 

However, even ionic liquid type antistatic agents have some problems. They bleed out from the substance (resin) as it happens for surfactant type antistatic agent and conductivity will be lost when those are eliminated. Moreover, water resistance is weak in the case of ionic liquid type antistatic agent. 

For this issues, Green Science Alliance developed new type of phosphonium based ionic liquid type antistatic agent with high water resistance and durability. It does not bleed out to the surface so that conductivity can be maintained compared to other type of commercially available ionic liquid type antistatic agent. For example, when 1 ～ 10 wt % of developed product is added to urethane acrylate type UV (Ultraviolet) curable resin and solidified with post heat treatment or ultraviolet light irradiation, conductivity was approximately 10⁹ ～ 10¹² Ω /□. It also demonstrated high water resistance compared to other type of commercially available ionic liquid type antistatic agent. 

Developed product is the ionic liquid base so that it is not inflammable, non-volatile and relatively safe under high temperature. So that they can be antistatic agent for various types of thermoplastic resin, thermosetting resin, engineering plastic, glue and adhesive even if they are processed and applied under high temperature. In addition, because ionic liquid type antistatic agent is transparent, they can be applied for various types of optical devices, electronic parts, display, semiconductor application etc.

Green Science Alliance will strengthen to expand this newly developed ionic liquid type static agent product business within Japan and world market.

Media Contact:
Ryohei Mori
81-72-7598501
[email protected]

SOURCE Green Science Alliance Co., Ltd.