(4y) Polymer Membranes for Energy Storage and Delivery

Developing a fundamental understanding of ion and water transport mechanisms through ion exchange membranes (IEMs) is vitally important for the design and development of next-generation membrane materials for energy storage and delivery applications. However, there are very few in situ structural and chemical characterization methods of IEMs during device operation, when molecular-level interactions and/or structural changes may occur, ultimately leading to fundamental changes in the transport mechanisms of ions and water through the IEM. Therefore, a key part of my future research as a faculty would be developing and employing powerful in situ characterization techniques to help investigate the connection between material chemistry and structure to crucial performance properties, in an effort to elucidate the fundamental mechanisms by which transport occurs in these IEMs. The information obtained from these in situ investigations would then be used to design and synthesize next-generation materials, which provide more facile ion transport than their predecessors. I believe that the energy community will be well-served by the development of measurement tools and systematic studies aimed at gaining a fundamental understanding of the materials properties and transport phenomena which give rise to performance enhancements.

Molecular-level structural and chemical probing techniques, including time-resolved neutron scattering and infrared spectroscopy, will play a critical role in developing an understanding of changes in material chemistry and structure to changes in device performance. Without such techniques, the community will have no direct measurement tools by which to perform systematic studies to understand structure-property-performance relationships of these systems. During my PhD work, I gained extensive experience on the use of infrared spectroscopy techniques to accurately capture and measure water transport in glassy polymers with molecular-level resolution. This expertise in transport phenomena and infrared spectroscopy will greatly aid and facilitate my future research endeavors, where I propose to develop/employ such power spectroscopic techniques to measure the transport of ions and water in these membranes, providing polymer chemists a useful set of design parameters for the synthesis of new ion exchange membranes for energy applications.

Furthermore, my work as a post doctoral fellow will focus on the design and development of the aforementioned in situ structural and spectroscopic techniques in order to investigate the effect of structure and molecular interactions on water and ions transport in IEMs for redox flow batteries. My work will provide me with access to sophisticated neutron scattering techniques, which will allow me to probe membrane structure and polymer dynamics during device operation. Once developed, these in situ techniques can be utilized in my future research, providing me with access to powerful and unique experimental techniques that may otherwise be unavailable. I believe that my PhD work on water transport in glassy polymers, as well as my post doctoral work on developing in situ structural and chemical characterization techniques for IEMs during device operation, will provide my future work with a solid foundation in an area of research that I believe will be receiving an increasing amount of funding in the future.