Grant: Alliance Grants

The proposed international collaboration will develop fundamental understanding on selective transport and reaction phenomena in nanoporous materials for sustainable energy and water technologies. The main goal will be to generate fundamental insights and basic knowledge of transport and reaction phenomena relevant for the optimal design of electrocatalytic layers (ECLs) and polymer electrolyte membranes (PEMs). These two classes of materials are of key importance for sustainable energy as well as separation and water treatment technologies, for example, filtration systems used to treat brackish water and supply freshwater to remote areas, PEMs synthesized to separate CO2 from post-combustion gas mixtures for carbon capture and storage, and fuel cells and electrolysers that rely on PEMs to selectively conduct ions and on ECLs to electively promote key reactions. Despite the importance of ECLs and PEMs in sustainable technologies, it remains a challenge for materials design and optimization to balance the transport behavior of ions and solvent, the selectivity to reject undesired species and suppress parasitic reactions, and the resistance to aging and failure. The objectives of this project include 1) developing a scale-bridging theoretical framework to study fundamental phenomena in PEMs and ECLs at molecular, interface and pore levels; 2) devising basic principles to guide novel design of materials and processes in PEMs and ECLs from the pore to component and device levels; 3) experimental assessment of electrochemical characteristics and selectivity, cross-validation with theoretical modeling and proposed design guidelines. The outcomes of the proposed project will help the design of materials with specifically tailored transport and reaction properties, which are needed to address important and urgent challenges such as: mitigation of risk posed by traditional energy sector on climate change by carbon capture/storage, transition to new energy systems that are not carbon based, cleaning of pollution fueled by population and economic growth, and production of potable water that is becoming scarcer due to global warming.