April 2
@
4:00 PM
–
5:00 PM
Jeffrey Richards
Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
Northwestern University
Evanston, IL
Engineering the Electrical Response of Conductive Soft Matter
Understanding how suspensions of electrically conductive nanoparticles respond to flow is of fundamental importance to engineering next generation battery technologies. In this talk, I will highlight how rheo-electric measurements, the simultaneous acquisition of electrical properties and rheological data, are essential to discovering the complex interplay between the electron transport and flow-induced dynamics in these suspensions. Using rheo-electric measurements of model silver coated nano- and micro- particles suspended in silicone oils, I will describe our discovery of the contribution of Brownian and shear-driven self-diffusion to the measured conductivity. Armed with this new understanding and advanced colloidal synthesis strategies, I will outline how to improve the performance of flowing electrodes in suspension-based flow batteries and the formulation and processing of battery slurry to make high performance lithium ion battery cathodes.