This experimental research project aims to develop 3D model porous electrodes to study how nanopore confinement and interface properties affect the speciation, spatial distribution, and mobility of ions and solvent molecules.
Ordered 3D (meso)porous materials will be synthesized from metals like Au, Ag, Cu, and carbon, using templated methods to achieve uniform pore sizes. Soft templates (e.g., polymeric micelles) and hard templates (e.g., PMMA, PS colloidal crystals, SBA-15) will be employed.
The goal is to create mesoporous films (2–50 nm pores) using soft templating for uniform pore sizes, and combined templating to produce hierarchical pore structures on conductive substrates such as metal foils or carbon paper. Such porous electrodes will be used to study how nanoconfinement affects physical properties of electrolyte species such as solubility, due to the electrostatic interactions of ions and solvent molecules with the charged solid surfaces. They will also help investigate ion mobility and mass transport (e.g., solvent and CO₂ diffusion) under applied potentials.
In collaboration with other ANION researchers in Utrecht, most notable Hannah Dickinson, we will use advanced microscopy techniques like cryoTEM and in-situ TEM to visualize metal cations in the pores. We will also assess mass transport by comparing the porous structure’s electrical resistance with resistance from ohmic heating under faradaic operation, using electrical impedance spectroscopy and microcalorimetry.
Finally, the influence of surface modifications—using ionomers or ligands of varying polarity—on the behavior of nanoconfined electrolyte species will be examined, to gain a better understanding of the influence of different environments at the nanoscale.
