Combining ferrocene and iodine results in enhanced thermoelectrochemical (or thermogalvanic) waste heat harvesting abilities, for both the Seebeck coefficient and the overall power output. All systems displayed a mixture of ferrocene, ferrocenium, iodine and triiodide. The observed enhancement correlates with lower electron-density on the ferrocene; the synergistic improvement observed for mixtures of substituted ferrocenes and iodine is attributed to the formation of charge-transfer complexes. Combining dibutanoylferrocene and iodine resulted in the highest Seebeck coefficient of 1.67 mV K(-1).

The effect of ionic liquids upon the mechanical and (bio)­chemical integrity of macadamia nut shells (from Macadamia integrifolia) has been investigated. Whole macadamia nuts-in-shell are notoriously difficult to crack, and the Australian macadamia nut shells used in this study required 2240 ± 430 N of force to crack. Ionic liquids were screened for their solubility values, with 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium acetate ([Emim]­[OAc]) able to dissolve 5.5 ± 0.5 wt % macadamia nut shell. Treatment with small quantities of [Emim]­[OAc] resulted in weakened whole nut-in-shells that could be cracked with only ca. 46% of the displacement (0.67 ± 0.16 mm), ca. 34% of the force (760 ± 240 N) and ca. 15% of the energy (0.25 ± 0.10 J per shell) relative to no treatment. Further treatment by dissolution and precipitation of macadamia nut shell, followed by enzymatic hydrolysis with cellulase, resulted in the release of 80 ± 15% of the expected glucose content, relative to 1.3 ± 1.0% before any pretreatment.