NJIT Research on Nanoporous Materials Would Make Electronics Stronger, Safer
Scientists at NJIT and in Germany are working to understand how ions congregate around nanoporous materials, which could lead to safety and reliability improvements for electronic components such as supercapacitors and microscopically tiny actuators.
Nanoscale porous materials are used in everyday objects such as household water filters and gas masks, but there is little research into how such surfaces behave when interacting with electrolytes, which can create internal stress that changes the material's physical properties.
The electrolytes form when materials are exposed to water, leading to dual rows of oppositely charged ions called electron double layers, or EDL. Most research is limited to how EDL behaves on flat surfaces, starting with experiments from the 19th century. New work for modern nanoporous materials needs to be performed, NJIT Associate Professor Gennady Gor explained.
Gor is jointly leading the research, having earned a $400,000, three-year grant from the National Science Foundation, and he'll work with co-principal investigators Michael Fröba and Patrick Huber, both from universities in Hamburg, Germany, who are funded by their country's NSF equivalent.
"We want to utilize a combination of experiments and molecular simulations to study the EDL in nanoporous solids on the atomistic scale [such as] how it forms and what its structure is. … These ions are pulling the atoms from their equilibrium positions, causing mechanical stresses," Gor said. In porous surfaces, "These stresses can cause deformation of the solid material. Therefore, if we control the EDL, we can deform the material in a controlled fashion."
Gor's role in the trio researchers is to perform computer modeling and run simulations. He said the results of the experiments could be used by engineers to make materials stronger, or to make materials that intentionally move, such as artificial muscles or loudspeaker components. The results could also influence the types of liquids that are used in supercapacitors — small battery-like components that are increasingly common in microelectronics — by helping engineers select less-toxic liquids based on their EDL characteristics.
Gor and his colleagues have a long list of experiments they'd like to try. These include using different surface chemistries, synchrotron X-ray scattering, molecular dynamics simulations and several others.
Gor noted that he and Huber, of Hamburg Institute of Technology, have been collaborating for almost a decade and wrote four papers together, including a widely-cited review on adsorption-induced deformation. In 2016 they began organizing a symposium on fluids in nanoporous materials at the International Society for Porous Media conference. Now they are thinking about turning their symposium into a full conference of its own.
But their primary goal is a devotion to pure science. "I am trying to bring an understanding to the fundamentals," Gor said, "so the people who work on devices can learn from that."
