Related papers: Can silica nanoparticles improve lithium transport…
Structure of polymer electrolytes membranes, e.g., Nafion, inside fuel cell catalyst layers has significant impact on the electrochemical activity and transport phenomena that determine cell performance. In those regions, Nafion can be…
The presence of nanoparticles in a diblock copolymer leads to changes in the morphology and properties of the matrix and can produce highly organized hybrid materials. The resulting material properties depend not only on the polymer…
Recent years have seen a surge of interest in nanopores because such structures show a strong potential for characterizing nanoparticles, proteins, DNA, and even single molecules. These systems have been extensively studied in experiment as…
The movement of small particles and molecules through membranes is widespread and has far-reaching implications. Consequently, the development of mathematical models is essential for understanding these processes on a micro level, leading…
In the present article, we have studied the effect of the salt concentration (LiPF6) on transport properties and ion dynamics of blend solid polymer electrolyte (PEO PAN) prepared by solution cast technique. Fourier transform infrared…
Some of our recent studies of the structure and mechanical properties of a special type of nanocomposite are reviewed here. In silica-latex systems, a latex film with silica inclusions is formed from a colloidal solution of both components.…
We investigate by scattering techniques the structure of water-based soft composite materials comprising a crystal made of Pluronic block-copolymer micelles arranged in a face-centered cubic lattice and a small amount (at most 2% by volume)…
Silicon carbide nanoparticles with diameters around 8 nm and with narrow size distribution have been finely mixed with doped silicon nanopowders and sintered into bulk samples to investigate the influence of nanoinclusions on electrical and…
Ion-pairing is commonly considered as a culprit for the reduced ionic conductivity in polymer electrolyte systems. However, this simple thermodynamic picture should not be taken literally, as ion-pairing is a dynamical phenomenon. Here we…
We study by simulation and theory how the addition of insulating spherical particles affects the conductivity of fluids of conducting rods, modeled by spherocylinders. The electrical connections are implemented as tunneling processes,…
It is of great importance to develop inorganic solid electrolytes with high ionic conductivity, thus enabling solid state Li-ion batteries to address the notorious safety issue about the current technology due to use of highly flammable…
We examine the dynamics of silica particles grafted with high molecular weight polystyrene suspended in semidilute solutions of chemically similar linear polymer using x-ray photon correlation spectroscopy. The particle dynamics decouple…
Thermo-osmosis refers to fluid migration due to temperature gradient. The mechanistic understanding of thermo-osmosis in charged nano-porous media is still incomplete, while it is important for several environmental and energy applications,…
Inhaled nanoparticles (< 100 nm) reaching the deep lung region first interact with the pulmonary surfactant, a thin lipid film lining the alveolar epithelium. To date, most biophysical studies have focused on particle induced modifications…
In this work, we report the results from molecular dynamics simulations of lithium salt-ionic liquid electrolytes (ILEs) based either on the symmetric bis[(trifluoromethyl)sulfonyl]imide ($\text{TFSI}^-$) anion or its asymmetric analog…
Alkaline electrolyte solutions are important components in rechargeable batteries and alkaline fuel cells. As the ionic conductivity is thought to be a limiting factor in the performance of these devices, which are often operated at…
Block-copolymer electrolytes with lamellar microstructure show promising results regarding the ion transport in experiments. Motivated by these observations we study block-copolymers consisting of a polystyrene (PS) block and a…
We report here a molecular dynamics simulation study on water and aqueous LiCl solutions confined in 1.6 nm cylindrical pores of silica to investigate a dynamical cross-over, observed earlier experimentally, wherein LiCl slows down confined…
The structure and interactions of coated silica nanoparticles have been studied in water using molecular dynamics simulations. For 5 nm diameter amorphous silica nanoparticles we studied the effects of varying the chain length and grafting…
Tunable nanopores in elastomeric membranes have been used to study the dependence of ionic current blockade rate on the concentration and electrophoretic mobility of particles in aqueous suspensions. A range of nanoparticle sizes, materials…