Engineered porous materials: computational design and materials production

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On October 5th, 2016, Canada ratified the Paris Accord, committing us to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 2/3 our 2005 levels by 2030, barely a decade away. Transitioning to a renewable energy economy will require not only political will and financial investment, but also technological solutions. It is a well-known problem that energy produced by wind/sun does not necessarily coincide with demand. Energy storage is a key enabler for a renewable economy since the stored energy can support the grid in periods of high-demand/low-production, thus avoiding power-shortages. Electrochemical energy storage is promising since it's geographically neutral, inherently safe, highly efficient, and potentially low cost; however, realizing this promise will require substantial effort and technology development. To maximize their efficiency, durability, and performance, engineers must design the porous electrodes to promote easy movement of chemical reactants, products, electrons, ions and heat. Though porous media have been studied for decades by geoscientists interested in oil recovery and aquifer management, the study of porous electrodes requires a significantly different approach. The proposed research program will address this need with newer, more appropriate tools, specifically suited to electrodes. These will include innovating computational tools such as pore scale simulations to understand the movement of the reactive species within the electrode materials, novel image analysis tools to study 3D volumetric images (i.e. cat scans') of electrode materials, and manufacturing techniques that provide control over the structure of the material, which allows information from the modeling and imaging to guide the production. Overall, this program aims to make more effective electrodes that perform better and therefore more cost effective. This will provide electrochemical energy storage devices with the impetus they need to become economically competitive with the current petroleum based infrastructure.