The scope of our DOE BES-funded team has expanded from proton-conducting polymer to include hydroxide-conducting polymers. I’m happy to announce our first paper in this area, entitled “Investigating Morphology and Diffusion in Simulations of Precise Anion-Conducting Polymers,” which recently appeared in Macromolecules. In collaboration with Dr. Amalie Frischknecht of the Center for Integrated Nanotechnologies at Sandia National Laboratories, we explored the structure and dynamics of two precise, hydrated polymers with quaternary ammonium groups using atomistic molecular dynamics simulations. Even at modest water contents, percolated nanoscale water channels form, and we quantify these non-periodic structures with channel width distributions, fractal dimensions, and characteristic length scales. Interestingly, we found a correlation between the fractal dimension and the diffusion coefficient of the hydroxide ion.
Our collaborator, Justin Kennemur of Florida State University, has recently synthesized these materials and we are busy characterizing their morphologies and conductivities. So, there is definitely more to come from us on anionic exchange membranes.
Also, here’s a special shout out to Emily Duan and James Johnson, two undergraduates at the University of Pennsylvania, who worked with Will Drayer on these simulations.
Read the article here: https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.macromol.5c01789
