(248a) Kinetic Control of Angstrom-Scale Porosity in Graphene for Direct Scalable Synthesis of Atomically Thin Proton Exchange Membranes
AIChE Annual Meeting
2023
2023 AIChE Annual Meeting
Materials Engineering and Sciences Division
AIChE Inorganic Materials Graduate Student Award, Sponsored by Chevron
Thursday, November 9, 2023 - 3:30pm to 3:55pm
Proton selective defects in the lattice of atomically thin 2D materials such as graphene which allow proton flux higher than pristine materials while maintaining selectivity to reactant gases could enable their use as membranes for energy conversion/storage applications if scalable synthesis techniques are utilized. Here, we show for the first time that kinetic control of graphene synthesis during scalable, chemical vapor deposition can allow for formation of angstrom-scale proton selective pores and facile fabrication of large-area atomically thin proton exchange membranes. Systematic liquid and gas phase transport measurements on the same membrane paired with a resistance-based transport model, we study the influence of these intrinsic pores on selective proton transport through centimeter-scale Nafion|Graphene|Nafion membranes. Further, we establish a novel membrane fabrication approach that effectively mitigates transport of undesired species (small ions and H2 gas crossover) while maintaining proton transport suitable for applications. Our insights on kinetic control of angstrom-scale pore formation over large areas during synthesis as well as the facile approach for membrane fabrication offer new avenues to enable functional, large-area, atomically thin proton exchange membranes.
References:
1. Moehring, N. K., Chaturvedi, P., Cheng, P., Boutilier, M., Kidambi, P. R. “Kinetic Control of Angstrom-scale Porosity in 2D Lattices for Scalable Synthesis of Atomically Thin Proton Exchange Membranes†ACS Nano (2022)
2. Kidambi, P. R., Chaturvedi, P., Moehring, N. K. “Subatomic species transport through atomically thin membranes: Present and future applications†Science. (2021)
3. Chaturvedi, P., Moehring, N. K., Cheng, P., Vlassiouk, I., Boutilier, M. S., Kidambi, P. R. “Deconstructing Proton Transport Through Atomically Thin Monolayer CVD Graphene Membranes†J. Mater. Chem. A. (2022)