Summary
Securing adequate supplies of energy and water at affordable costs and in a sustainable manner is one of humanity’s greatest challenges. The interconnected nature of these two critical resources means that a deficiency in one could adversely affect the availability of the other. Membrane-based technologies—such as reverse osmosis, electrodialysis, fuel cells, and flow batteries—are poised to play a crucial role in meeting our water and energy needs, owing to their efficiency, simplicity, and compact design. However, the success of these technologies depends on the development of new materials with enhanced functionality. Despite longstanding academic and industrial interest in this field, significant fundamental and practical challenges remain.
The Kamcev research group aims to develop next-generation polymeric materials, such as membranes and adsorbents, to improve the efficiency of existing technologies and facilitate the adoption of emerging technologies for water and energy applications. Our approach integrates material synthesis, advanced characterization, and modeling to establish structure/property relationships that inform the rational design of high-performance polymeric materials. We synthesize polymers with precisely controlled structures, characterize their physicochemical and transport properties, evaluate their performance in real systems, and, where appropriate, apply models to elucidate the relationship between molecular structure and performance. A summary of several ongoing research programs is provided below.
Fundamental studies of solute transport in charged polymer membranes
Charged polymer membranes are essential for the efficient operation of electrochemical technologies, including electrodialysis, electrolysis, flow batteries, and fuel cells. These membranes must exhibit high conductivity, selectivity, and long-term stability under diverse operating conditions. Advancing the fundamental understanding of solute transport in these materials is critical for accelerating the development of next-generation membranes tailored to specific applications. A key focus of our research is to deepen this understanding. The figure to the right illustrates some of the phenomena we aim to explore, including ion hydration within the membrane, specific interactions among ions, polymers, and water, as well as effects of polymer dynamics, morphology, and chemistry. Our approach combines the synthesis of membranes with precisely controlled properties, thorough characterization of their structure and transport behavior, and advanced modeling techniques. We utilize analytical thermodynamic and transport models, alongside molecular dynamics simulations, to gain molecular-level insights into these complex phenomena.
Rational design and understanding of multi-functional, structurally complex polymer systems
Structurally complex membranes with multiple phases can achieve properties that single-phase membranes cannot. For example, charged polymer membranes embedded with highly selective adsorbent particles (i.e., adsorptive membranes) can purify water while simultaneously recovering valuable or toxic solutes. Polymer membranes with thin, functionalized layers (i.e., monovalent-selective membranes) can effectively separate monovalent from divalent ions. Bipolar membranes, which consist of oppositely charged polymers with water dissociation catalysts at their interface, can dissociate water into protons and hydroxide ions when subjected to an external electric field. Additionally, linear charged polymers (i.e., ionomers) are commonly used to anchor catalytic particles onto substrates in flowing electrochemical devices, regulating transport to and from the catalysts. Our research focuses on understanding and controlling this structural complexity to achieve desirable properties, with a particular emphasis on understanding the interfacial phenomena between these multiple phases.
Membranes for electrochemical technologies for water treatment, energy generation, and energy storage
Electrochemical technologies rely on specialized membranes, yet only a limited number of commercial membranes are available, optimized for a narrow range of applications. To accelerate the adoption of emerging technologies, new membranes with transport properties tailored to specific applications are essential. This research aims to establish a critical link between membrane structure/properties and the performance of electrochemical technologies at the bench scale, enabling the rapid design of customized membranes. Currently, this connection is often missing, as research tends to focus either on membrane transport or device/system optimization in isolation. Our approach involves bench-scale testing of custom membranes with precisely controlled properties, evaluating them under realistic operating conditions. The applications we are currently exploring include electrodialysis brine concentration, electrochemical ion separation (i.e., selectrodialysis), bipolar membrane electrodialysis, redox flow batteries, and water electrolysis.