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Results for “ionic conductivity”

Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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At least 217 records · Page 12
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2018

Low-Temperature Ionic Conductivity Enhanced by Disrupted Ice Formation in Polyampholyte Hydrogels

Here, the phase behavior of water in hydrogels has a broad impact on many health and energy applications. Our previous study showed that polyampholyte hydrogel has the potential to be used as an aqueous gel electrolyte in electrochemical storage devices at -30 °C due to enhanced low-temperature conductivity. In this study, we detail the impact polymer structure has on this enhanced conductivity, explaining this finding with a model charge-balanced polyampholyte, poly(4-vinylbenzenesulfonate- co -[3-(methacryloylam ino)propyl] trimethylammonium chloride), a hydrogel whose polymer and water structures are probed by variable-temperature SAXS, WAXS, and solid-state NMR spectroscopy. SAXS results at room temperature indicate a networked globule structure in the charge-balanced polyampholyte hydrogels. The globular radius of gyration is ~ 2.5 nm, whereas the globular size and its clustering structure are dependent on synthesis parameters. Variable-temperature SAXS data reveal a temperature-dependent structure evolution of the polyampholyte hydrogel. An interconnected globular network structure of polymer-rich phase at low temperature, observed by electron microscopy, is suggested to preserve ion-conducting channels of nonfrozen water molecules at low temperatures. This hypothesis is further supported by solid-state NMR spectroscopy. Together these findings provide macromolecular- and molecular-level insight that may be used to design gel electrolytes for enhanced low-temperature performance.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2023

Membrane–Electrolyte System Approach to Understanding Ionic Conductivity and Crossover in Alkaline Flow Cells

Membrane transport properties are crucial for electrochemical devices, and these properties are influenced by the composition and concentration of the electrolyte in contact with the membrane. We apply this general membrane-electrolyte system approach to alkaline flow batteries, studying conductivity and ferricyanide crossover of Nafion and E-620. We report undetectable crossover for as-received Nafion and E-620 after both sodium and potassium exchange, but high ferricyanide permeability of 10 –7 to 10 –8 cm2 s –1 for Nafion subjected to pre-treatment prevalent in the flow battery literature. We show how the electrolyte mass fraction in hydrated membranes regulates the influence of ion concentration on membrane conductivity, identifying that increasing electrolyte concentration may not increase 1 membrane conductivity even when it increases electrolyte conductivity. To illustrate this behavior we introduce a new metric, the membrane penalty, as the ratio of the conductivity of the electrolyte to that of the membrane equilibrated with the electrolyte. We discuss the tradeoff between flow battery volumetric capacity and areal power density that arises from these findings. Finally, we apply insights from this approach to provide recommendations for use of membranes in alkaline flow cells, and electrochemical reactors in general.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2023

Scaling of ionic conductance in a fluctuating single-layer nanoporous membrane

Abstract Single-layer membranes have emerged as promising candidates for applications requiring high transport rates due to their low resistance to molecular transport. Owing to their atomically thin structure, these membranes experience significant microscopic fluctuations, emphasizing the need to explore their impact on ion transport processes. In this study, we investigate the effects of membrane fluctuations on the elementary scaling behavior of ion conductance $$G$$ G as a function of ion concentration $$c_{0}$$ c 0 , represented as $$G = \beta c_{0}^{\alpha }$$ G = β c 0 α , using molecular dynamics simulations. Our findings reveal that membrane fluctuations not only alter the conductance coefficient $$\beta$$ β but also the power-law exponent $$\alpha$$ α . We identify two distinct frequency regimes of membrane fluctuations, GHz-scale and THz-scale fluctuations, and examine their roles in conductance scaling. Furthermore, we demonstrate that the alteration of conductance scaling arises from the non-linearity between ion conductance and membrane shape. This work provides a fundamental understanding of ion transport in fluctuating membranes.

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2015

Structural vs. intrinsic carriers: contrasting effects of cation chemistry and disorder on ionic conductivity in pyrochlores

We use molecular dynamics simulations to investigate the role of cation disorder on oxygen diffusion in Gd 2 Zr 2 O 7 (GZO) and Gd 2 Ti 2 O 7 (GTO) pyrochlores, a class of complex oxides which contain a structural vacancy relative to the basic fluorite structure. The introduction of disorder has distinct effects depending on the chemistry of the material, increasing the mobility of structural carriers by up to four orders of magnitude in GZO. In contrast, in GTO, there is no mobility at zero or low disorder on the ns timescale, but higher disorder liberates the otherwise immobile carriers, allowing diffusion with rates comparable to GZO for the fully disordered material. Here, we show that the cation disorder enhances the diffusivity by both increasing the concentration of mobile structural carriers and their individual mobility. The disorder also influences the diffusion in materials containing intrinsic carriers, such as additional vacancies VO or oxygen interstitials OI. And while in ordered GZO and GTO the contribution of the intrinsic carriers dominates the overall diffusion of oxygen, OI in GZO contributes along with structural carriers, and the total diffusion rate can be calculated by assuming simple additive contributions from the two sources. Although the disorder in the materials with intrinsic defects usually enhances the diffusivity as in the defect-free case, in low concentrations, cation antisites AB or BA, where A = Gd and B = Zr or Ti, can act as traps for fast intrinsic defects. The trapping results in a lowering of the diffusivity, and causes a non-monotonic behavior of the diffusivity with disorder. Conversely, in the case of slow intrinsic defects, the main effect of the disorder is to liberate the structural carriers, resulting in an increase of the diffusivity regardless of the defect trapping.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗