Dr. Yossef Elabd, professor, associate department head and director of the undergraduate program in the Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering at Texas A&M University, recently delivered a webinar for the American Chemical Society (ACS). The webinar “The Power of Plastics: Polymerized Ionic Liquids and Nanostructured Polymers for Battery and Other Applications,” featured both Elabd and Dr. Thomas H Epps, III, the Thomas & Kipp Gutshall Professor of Chemical Engineering at the University of Delaware. Previously, Epps presented a talk as part of the spring 2017 J.D. Lindsay Lecture Series in the department.
During the webinar, Elabd described his research on polymerized ionic liquids (PILs), an emerging class of solid state polymer electrolytes. These PILs have a wide variety of potential applications, fuel cell membranes, battery electrolytes and many other electrochemical devices.
Electrochemical devices provide electric power through the transportation of ions between the positive (cathode) and negative (anode) electrodes, through an electrolyte. One of the main limiting factors for electrochemical cells, in terms of efficiency and energy density, is the electrolyte. The chemical makeup of the entire cell is determined by the electrolyte.
With a relatively low number of proven electrolytes, engineers have very little room for flexibility or variation in the chemical composition inside electrochemical cells. PILs on the other hand, present engineers with a wide variety of chemistries to utilize when designing electrochemical cells to enhance efficiency and energy density.
This was the inaugural webinar from the ACS Division of Polymer Chemistry.