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Chi Zhan MS thesis.pdf (3.47 MB)

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Towards Development of Porous Polymeric Materials for Oil Absorption and Energy Storage Devices

Zhan, Chi
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=akron1525712548230523

Abstract Details

2018, Master of Science, University of Akron, Polymer Engineering.
This research concentrated on two parts. The first part focused on shrinkage reduction of polyimide (PI) aerogels using graphene oxide (GO) filler materials. Such materials are then used for enhanced oil absorption ability. The second part involved development of thermal stable solid-state ionogel electrolyte membrane materials for Li-ion batteries (LIBs). PI aerogels suffer from inevitable, high volume shrinkage during supercritical drying process, and its hydrophilic properties prevent potential applications as absorbents of oil and other non-polar organic liquids. A feasible method to tackle both the issues is to introduce GO into the PI aerogel structures. This was achieved first by allowing GO to react with pyromellitic dianhydride (PMDA) and obtaining GO-modified PMDA. These are used in synthesis of PI-GO composite gels through sol-gel polymerization process involving GO-modified PMDA and 2,2’-dimethybenzidine (DMBZ), together with 1, 3, 5-tris (4-aminophenyl) benzene (TAB) as the crosslinking agent. DMF was used as the solvent. The composite aerogel specimens were obtained through supercritical drying in liquid CO2. For comparison, the unmodified PI aerogel specimens were prepared using the same method minus the GO. The influence of content of GO on diameter shrinkage of the monoliths, oil absorption capacity, and other physical properties was investigated. The resulting composite aerogels showed high surface area (>505 m2/g), high porosity (>93%) and low bulk density (<0.0905 g/cm3). A strong relationship was observed between GO concentration in solutions and diameters shrinkage of aerogels. For example, a system with GO concentration of 0.55 wt% led to diameter shrinkage to 0.8 % compared to 9.0 % for unmodified monoliths. Meanwhile, oil absorption capacity of PI-GO composite aerogels was found to be greatly enhanced. To fully understand the reason behind oil absorption capacity enhancement, the surface energy of PI-GO composite aerogels and PI aerogels were evaluated. The PI-GO composite materials showed a 12.3% reduction in surface energy compared to the PI aerogel. The second part of the study was devoted to fabrication of solid-state ionogel electrolyte membranes for LIB application by incorporating ionic liquid (IL) in porous polymer membranes. Specifically, syndiotactic polystyrene (sPS) membranes were prepared and filled with a polymerizable ionic liquid. This was followed by free-radical polymerization reaction of the IL inside the sPS membrane at 75 ºC. Finally, the ionogel membrane was obtained for use as the electrolyte membrane. The resulting solid electrolyte membrane showed improved thermal stability compared to sPS membranes as revealed from thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). The polymerized IL (PIL) has higher degradation temperature than sPS. The resulting membrane also exhibited negligible IL loss and shrinkage. The electrochemical performance for this electrolyte was evaluated. It was found that the ionic conductivity was of the order of 10-3 S/cm and the chemical stability window was from 0 – 5.1 V. The solid electrolyte membrane showed Young’s modulus of 1.3 MPa and ultimate strength of 3 MPa.
Sadhan Jana (Advisor)
Kevin Cavicchi (Committee Chair)
Nicole Zacharia (Committee Member)
101 p.
Energy; Materials Science; Polymers
polyimide, graphene oxide, aerogel, composite, oil absorption, Li-ion battery, electrolyte, ionogels, ionic liquids, syndiotactic polystyrene, battery safety, high-temperature batteries

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Citations

  • Zhan, C. (2018). Towards Development of Porous Polymeric Materials for Oil Absorption and Energy Storage Devices [Master's thesis, University of Akron]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=akron1525712548230523

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Zhan, Chi. Towards Development of Porous Polymeric Materials for Oil Absorption and Energy Storage Devices. 2018. University of Akron, Master's thesis. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=akron1525712548230523.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Zhan, Chi. "Towards Development of Porous Polymeric Materials for Oil Absorption and Energy Storage Devices." Master's thesis, University of Akron, 2018. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=akron1525712548230523

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

akron1525712548230523
251
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This open access ETD is published by University of Akron and OhioLINK.