Vapor sorption characterizes advanced materials for the water--energy--food nexus

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Vapor sorption analysis (VSA) is a necessary component to evaluate a material's response to moisture and other solvents. It is a key analytical step to validate advanced materials finding applications in water harvesting, polymer netting, thin films, novel adsorbents, natural fibre systems and thermoplastic composites. Such applications show promise to invert the negative feedback loops characteristic of the water-food-energy nexus. For example, while increases in agricultural yields have in the past come at the expense of greater pesticide runoff and increased energy for pesticide production and deployment, the use of advanced polymer nets can instead reduce water contamination and energy use. However, the development of such novel materials requires appropriate characterization in a laboratory setting. VSA can be accomplished through volumetric and gravimetric approaches, each with their advantages and disadvantages. On top of providing information pertaining to adsorption and desorption of various compounds, VSA also provides insight into total surface area and (through models) pore size distribution. Gravimetric approaches are the most common (despite their very long analysis times), and volumetric systems are essentially nonexistant. Further, despite being more prevalent, gravimetric VSAs are generally unavailable in the Montreal area and have required the applicant, co-applicants and prospective users to rely on extensive travel, sample shipping out-of-province or the deployment of unstandardized, low grade (and low precision) homemade alternatives in order to proceed with their work. These efforts have been further limited to strictly the study of humidity adsorption, as the use of other solvents was not possible on such instruments. The diverse research team assembled represents actors from chemical engineering, mechanical engineering and engineering physics, across 3 universities in Montreal. All have as their core values the training of highly qualified personnel from various backgrounds, aiming first and foremost to contribute value-added personnel with real-world, transferable skills to the Canadian economy. Students are the first deliverable of a university professor, and the acquisition of a VSA instrument will not only advance the high-impact research being undertaken, but also solidify a world-class, multidisciplinary training environment. This instrument will be made widely available to the Montreal academic community, and publicized accordingly on a variety of databases (not the least of which is the CREPEC consortium).