Engineering Selective Fuel Cell and Water Treatment Membranes

具有可控分离性能的膜在先进的能源和环境应用中起着至关重要的作用。对于分离气体分子的聚合物膜，已经非常详细地探索了促进选择性渗透的潜在机制和结构-性质关系，但是对于含有连接的离子基团并吸收水的聚合物，例如燃料电池膜，为什么选择性存在于这些系统中以及如何通过合理的分子设计来增强选择性的潜在分子概念尚不清楚。气体分离膜和吸水膜之间的根本区别在于，气体分离膜中的传输过程由聚合物动力学支配，其中吸水膜传输性质由水在相对静止的聚合物基质内的运动支配。因此，该项目将重点关注水-聚合物相互作用以及聚合物化学和物理框架内的水结合和扩散的关键作用。智力优势：拟议研究的中心主题是研究含有磺酸盐基团的末端连接聚合物系统，并确定设计燃料电池和纳滤膜的关键分子参数，这些膜对水，离子和小分子具有可调的选择性。具有良好控制的结构变化的定制材料将促进我们对提高磺化聚合物选择性的不同途径的基本理解。表征任务将与合成工作紧密结合，以探索膜的分子特性如何影响水的结合和扩散，进而水的性质如何影响离子和小分子的运输。将使用光谱学，形态学分析和运输测量相结合，对分子，多纳米和膜长度尺度上的膜和运输特性进行深入研究，特别注意化学和物理框架以及膜内的水结合。通过结合两个基本的见解和性能特定的传输测量，一个完整的图片的分子结构传输性能可以形成这些重要的material.Broader影响：该项目的成功将打开一个全新的方向，在含离子膜的发展，并具有深远的影响，合理设计的纳米结构膜与新的架构和上级选择性和传输性能。未来能够在聚合物膜和燃料电池的跨学科领域工作的科学家将在该计划中接受培训和教育。本科生和少数民族将整体参与研究计划。“材料+创意+社区=能量”模块包括讲座材料、讲义、幻灯片和动手实验演示，将在校园开放日、校内和校外学生团体活动期间创建和部署（研讨会，学生俱乐部聚会，高中访问），在两个新的夏令营期间，包括9-12年级教师的宾夕法尼亚州立大学科学研讨会和高中学生的ASM材料营。

0932740WangProject SummaryMembranes with controllable separation properties play a vital role in advanced energy and environmental applications. Underlying mechanisms and structure-property relationships that promote permselectivity have been explored in great detail for polymer membranes that separate gas molecules, but for polymers that contain attached ionic groups and absorb water, such as fuel cell membranes, the underlying molecular concepts of why selectivity exists in these systems and how selectivity can be enhanced through rational molecular design are not clear. The fundamental difference between gas separation membranes and water-absorbing membranes is that the transport processes in gas separation membranes are dominated by the polymer dynamics where the water-absorbing membrane transport properties are dominated by the motion of water within the relatively stationary polymer matrix. Therefore, this project will focus on the critical role of water-polymer interactions and water binding and diffusion within the chemical and physical framework of the polymer. Intellectual Merit: The central theme of the proposed research is to study a system of end-linked polymers that contain sulfonate groups and to determine the critical molecular parameters for designing fuel cell and nanofiltration membranes with tunable selectivity for water, ions, and small molecules. The tailored materials with well-controlled structural variation will advance our fundamental understanding of the different routes to increasing selectivity in sulfonated polymers. The characterization tasks will be intimately integrated with the synthetic efforts to probe how the molecular characteristics of the membrane influence binding and diffusion of water, and in turn how the water properties influence the transport of ions and small molecules. An in-depth study of membrane and transport properties on the molecular, multi-nanometer, and membrane length scales will be performed using a combination of spectroscopy, morphological analysis, and transport measurements, with special attention paid to the chemical and physical framework and the water binding within the membrane. By combining both fundamental insights and performance-specific transport measurements, a complete picture of molecular structure-transport properties can be formed for these important materials.Broader Impacts: The success of this project will open a completely new direction in the development of ion-containing membranes and has profound implications for rational design of nanostructured membranes with new architectures and superior selectivity and transport properties. Future scientists capable of working in the interdisciplinary field of polymer membranes and fuel cells will be trained and educated within this program. Undergraduates and minorities will be integrally involved in the research program. The "Materials + Creativity + Community = Energy" modules including lecture materials, handouts, slides, and hand-on experimental demonstrations will be created and deployed in campus open houses, during student group activities on and off campus (seminars, student club gatherings, high school visits), and during two new summer residential camps including Penn State Science Workshop for grades 9-12 teachers and ASM Materials Camp for high school students.