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Improved understanding of transport in concentrated electrolyte solutions has important implications for energy storage, water purification, biological applications, and more. This understanding should ideally persist across length scales: we desire both continuum-level insight into macroscopic concentration and electric potential profiles as well as a molecular-level understanding of the mechanisms governing ion motion. However, the most ubiquitous theory to describe continuum-level electrolyte transport, the Stefan-Maxwell equations, yields transport coefficients which lack clear molecular-level interpretation and cannot be easily computed from molecular simulations.
Electrifying the Chemical Industry through Electrocatalyst Discovery and Nanoscale in situ Imaging Speaker: Ivan A. Moreno-Hernandez, Postdoctoral Scholar, Department of Chemistry, University of California,
Hydrogen has long been seen as a possible renewable fuel source, held out of reach for full-scale adoption by production costs and inefficiencies. Researchers in the Weimer Group are working to address this by using solar thermal processing to drive high-temperature chemical reactions that produce hydrogen and carbon monoxide, which can be used to synthesize liquid hydrocarbon fuels.
Eight cross-disciplinary teams working to advance fundamental science in the removal of greenhouse gases from Earth’s atmosphere and oceans will receive awards totaling $1,210,000 in the second year of the Scialog: Negative Emissions Science initiative, sponsored by Research Corporation for Science Advancement and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, with additional support from the Climate Pathfinders Foundation. The 22 individual awards of $55,000 will go to 20 researchers from a variety of institutions in the United States and Canada. Among the awardees is Adam Holewinski, Chemical & Biological Engineering, University of Colorado Boulder.
Stimuli-responsive polymers respond to their environment without requiring motors, sensors, or power supplies. These materials can replace the functions of traditional machines in conditions or at scales, such as in the human body, where traditional actuators, electronics, and batteries are difficult to employ.
Climate change demands a paradigm change in the chemical industry and waste stream valorization.
Reverse osmosis modules comprised of composite polymer membranes represent a leading technology in desalination and purification of brackish water.
The covalent attachment of polymers has emerged as a powerful strategy for the preparation of multi-functional surfaces.
Current state-of-the-art composite materials are not light/strong enough for crewed missions to Mars and beyond.
Traditional methods of scientific inquiry and engineering design begin with human intelligence: Mathematical models encoding physical hypotheses are proposed, tested against experimental data and refined by fitting adjustable parameters.