Skip to main content
Go to the home page of the European Commission (opens in new window)
English English
CORDIS - EU research results
CORDIS
Content archived on 2024-06-18

Variational models of network formation and ion transport: applications to polyelectrolyte membranes

Objective

The functionalized Cahn-Hilliard energy is a phase-field characterization of an interfacial energy used
to describe dynamics of amphiphilic network formation. We have
successfully applied the functionalized Cahn-Hilliard energy to model the morphology of water nano-pore networks in ionomer membranes. The resulting morphology model was validated with experimental scattering data of Nafion, an
ionomer membrane which is a critical component in fuel cells.

It is natural to use, as a basis, the successful morphology model to study the effect of morphology
on membrane performance, e.g. conductivity. The functionalized Cahn-Hilliard energy offers, however, only a phenomenological treatment of the electrostatic
forces between the polymer and the water. Such a treatment effectively blocks important extensions of the model.

The main goal of this proposal is the development, analysis, and simulation of continuum models which characterize amphiphilic network formation coupled to ion transport. Attaining this goal requires redeveloping key components of the functionalized Cahn-Hilliard model while operating on a wide range of scales, e.g. from the non-uniform water structure in a pore at the nanoscale to membrane conductivity at the macroscale.
A key application of this proposal is to study conductivity and selectivity of ionomer membranes and their dependence upon morphology and ionic concentrations.

The project is of clear interdisciplinary nature, merging problems, ideas and tools from Mathematics, material science, solution chemistry and soft matter physics. The design and performance of novel clean energy devices such as fuel cells, flow batteries, or organic solar cells critically depends on the optimized coupling between material nanostructure, electrostatics, charge transport and nanoflows. Any progress in the directions proposed above will open the way to robust phase-field models which can incorporate and couple these four effects.

Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)

CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: https://op.europa.eu/en/web/eu-vocabularies/euroscivoc.

You need to log in or register to use this function

Topic(s)

Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.

Call for proposal

Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.

FP7-PEOPLE-2013-CIG
See other projects for this call

Funding Scheme

Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.

MC-CIG - Support for training and career development of researcher (CIG)

Coordinator

TECHNION - ISRAEL INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
EU contribution
€ 100 000,00
Address
SENATE BUILDING TECHNION CITY
32000 Haifa
Israel

See on map

Activity type
Higher or Secondary Education Establishments
Links
Total cost

The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.

No data
My booklet 0 0