Event

Developing a Theory of Ion Transport in Solid Polymer Electrolytes

Dr. Rajeev Kumar

Abstract: Controlling charge and mass transport in polymeric media is of fundamental and technological interest due to its relevance to batteries, gas and liquid separation membranes, and biomimetic materials. Despite decades of research on various polymer electrolytes, design rules for a “superionic” polymer electrolyte are still being developed. In this talk, I will present our efforts1-4 in developing a theory for understanding ion transport in polymer electrolytes such as single-ion conducting polymerized ionic liquids and salt-in-polymer electrolytes. A particular emphasis will be placed on developing microscopic expressions for various transport coefficients. A combination of stochastic and deterministic density functional theory will be proposed to achieve the goal of developing the microscopic expressions of transport coefficients. Comparisons of predictions from the models with the experimental data at the relevant length and time scales will be presented paving a way for future work.

  1. S. Zhang and R. Kumar, J. Chem. Phys. 156, 174903 (2022).
  2. R. Kumar et al, Science Advances 6, eaba7952 (2020).
  3. R. Kumar et al, J. Chem. Phys. 146, 064902 (2017).
  4. Y. Fu et al, Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys. 19, 27442 (2017).

Speaker’s Bio: Rajeev Kumar received his Ph.D. in Polymer Science and Engineering from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst in 2008. After his Ph.D., he worked at the Materials Research Lab, University of California, Santa Barbara in the field of polymer physics. In 2010, he joined the ORNL as an American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) Fellow at the National Center for Computational Sciences, Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Since 2012, he has been working as a staff scientist at the Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences, ORNL. His current research interests include dynamics of charged polymers, topological effects, and self-assembly of charged polymers in the bulk and near interfaces.

Last Updated: March 13, 2023 - 2:18 pm