{"title":"Electrical Tortuosity in Nanostructured Mesoporous Silica Powder and Nanocomposite Membranes","authors":"Dessie Belay Emrie","doi":"10.1007/s11242-024-02095-8","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Polymer silica nanocomposites are advanced materials with unique properties combining the advantages of an inorganic nanofiller and the organic polymer matrix, which attracted considerable interest for applications in energy conversion and storage, drug delivery, environmental remediation, and many more. However, the dispersion of the nanofiller in the polymer matrix leads to complexified nanocomposite materials whose barrier properties are altered resulting in a tortuous pathway for the transport of current, matter, and velocity. The tortuosity of these nanocomposite materials, which depends on their porosity organization, is a parameter usually challenging to quantify accurately. Therefore, the objective of this study was to develop a method to quantify the electrical tortuosity and to develop a theoretical model to accurately predict electrical tortuosity in these in-house prepared silica powder and nanocomposite membrane materials at different porosity ranges. The SBA-15 silica powder and nanocomposite membranes’ conductivity was measured with the help of impedance spectroscopy in a 1 M sodium chloride electrolyte solution from which the electrical tortuosity is quantified. The calculated tortuosity of SBA-15 silica powder was found to be well correlated to the entire range of its porosity. The plots of the tortuosity versus porosity from the Maxwell and the modified Maxwell models showed a well-fitted curve to the entire range of porosity. These theoretical models will help to give a perfect prediction of the electrical tortuosity of materials from porosity measurements, which would be a vital technique to characterize materials used in electrochemical devices and battery technology.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":804,"journal":{"name":"Transport in Porous Media","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.7000,"publicationDate":"2024-06-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Transport in Porous Media","FirstCategoryId":"5","ListUrlMain":"https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11242-024-02095-8","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q3","JCRName":"ENGINEERING, CHEMICAL","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Polymer silica nanocomposites are advanced materials with unique properties combining the advantages of an inorganic nanofiller and the organic polymer matrix, which attracted considerable interest for applications in energy conversion and storage, drug delivery, environmental remediation, and many more. However, the dispersion of the nanofiller in the polymer matrix leads to complexified nanocomposite materials whose barrier properties are altered resulting in a tortuous pathway for the transport of current, matter, and velocity. The tortuosity of these nanocomposite materials, which depends on their porosity organization, is a parameter usually challenging to quantify accurately. Therefore, the objective of this study was to develop a method to quantify the electrical tortuosity and to develop a theoretical model to accurately predict electrical tortuosity in these in-house prepared silica powder and nanocomposite membrane materials at different porosity ranges. The SBA-15 silica powder and nanocomposite membranes’ conductivity was measured with the help of impedance spectroscopy in a 1 M sodium chloride electrolyte solution from which the electrical tortuosity is quantified. The calculated tortuosity of SBA-15 silica powder was found to be well correlated to the entire range of its porosity. The plots of the tortuosity versus porosity from the Maxwell and the modified Maxwell models showed a well-fitted curve to the entire range of porosity. These theoretical models will help to give a perfect prediction of the electrical tortuosity of materials from porosity measurements, which would be a vital technique to characterize materials used in electrochemical devices and battery technology.
期刊介绍:
-Publishes original research on physical, chemical, and biological aspects of transport in porous media-
Papers on porous media research may originate in various areas of physics, chemistry, biology, natural or materials science, and engineering (chemical, civil, agricultural, petroleum, environmental, electrical, and mechanical engineering)-
Emphasizes theory, (numerical) modelling, laboratory work, and non-routine applications-
Publishes work of a fundamental nature, of interest to a wide readership, that provides novel insight into porous media processes-
Expanded in 2007 from 12 to 15 issues per year.
Transport in Porous Media publishes original research on physical and chemical aspects of transport phenomena in rigid and deformable porous media. These phenomena, occurring in single and multiphase flow in porous domains, can be governed by extensive quantities such as mass of a fluid phase, mass of component of a phase, momentum, or energy. Moreover, porous medium deformations can be induced by the transport phenomena, by chemical and electro-chemical activities such as swelling, or by external loading through forces and displacements. These porous media phenomena may be studied by researchers from various areas of physics, chemistry, biology, natural or materials science, and engineering (chemical, civil, agricultural, petroleum, environmental, electrical, and mechanical engineering).