• Energy Research

Abstract Design and implementation of advanced membrane formulations for selective transport of ions and molecular species are critical for creating the next generations of fuel cells and separation devices. It is necessary to understand the detailed transport mechanisms over time- and length-scales relevant to the device operation, both in laboratory models and in working systems under realistic operational conditions. Neutron scattering techniques including quasi-elastic neutron scattering, reflectivity and imaging are implemented at beamline stations at reactor and spallation source facilities worldwide. With the advent of new and improved instrument design, detector methodology, source characteristics and data analysis protocols, these neutron scattering techniques are emerging as a primary tool for research to design, evaluate and implement advanced membrane technologies for fuel cell and separation devices. Here we describe these techniques and their development and implementation at the ILL reactor source (Institut Laue-Langevin, Grenoble, France) and ISIS Neutron and Muon Spallation source (Harwell Science and Technology Campus, UK) as examples. We also mention similar developments under way at other facilities worldwide, and describe approaches such as combining optical with neutron Raman scattering and x-ray absorption with neutron imaging and tomography, and carrying out such experiments in specialised fuel cells designed to mimic as closely possible actual operando conditions. These experiments and research projects will play a key role in enabling and testing new membrane formulations for efficient and sustainable energy production/conversion and separations technologies.

The high power-per-weight ratio displayed by metal-halide perovskite PVs is a key advantage of these promising devices for applications that require low payload, such as in space and avionics.

Catanionic vesicles are formed spontaneously by mixing cationic and anionic dispersions in aqueous solution in suitable conditions. Because of spontaneity in formation, long-term stability, and easy modulation of size and charge, they have numerous advantages over conventional lipid-based vesicles. The dynamics of such vesicles is of interest in the field of biomedicine, as they can be used to deliver drug molecules into the cell membrane. Dynamics of catanionic vesicles based on sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) and cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) have been studied using incoherent elastic and quasielastic neutron scattering (QENS) techniques. Neutron scattering experiments have been carried out on two backscattering spectrometers, IRIS and IN16B, which have different energy resolutions and energy transfer windows. An elastic fixed-window scan carried out using IN16B shows a phase transition at ∼307 K during the heating cycle, whereas on cooling the transition occurred at ∼294 K. DSC results are found to be in close agreement with the elastic scan data. This transition is ascribed to a structural rearrangement from a multilamellar to a unilamellar phase [ Andreozzi J. Phys. Chem. B 2010 , 114 , 8056 - 8060 ]. It is found that a model in which the surfactant molecules undergo both lateral and internal motions can describe the QENS data quite well. While the data from IRIS have contributions from both dynamical processes, the data from IN16B probe only lateral motions, as the internal motions are too fast for the energy window of the spectrometer. It is found that, through the transition, the fraction of surfactant molecules undergoing lateral motion increases of a factor of 2 from the multilamellar to the unilamellar phase, indicating an enhanced fluidity of the latter. The lateral motion is found to be Fickian in nature, while the internal motion has been described by a localized translational diffusion model. The results reported here could have direct interest for a number of applications, such as molecular transport, and the effect of specific drug molecules or hormones through the membrane.

The dynamics of conjugated polymers are known to influence the performance of optoelectronic devices. Polyalkylthiophenes are a widely studied class of conjugated polymers, which exhibit a glass transition around room temperature and consequently are sensitive to temperature variations. We studied the dynamics of two polyalkylthiophenes of different side chain lengths (hexyl and octyl) as a function of temperature, by comparing their quasi-elastic neutron scattering (QENS) with molecular dynamics simulations (MD). We found a good agreement between the simulated and experimental data within the explored time window (of ∼4 ns), demonstrating that the force fields used in MD simulations are appropriate and that the QENS technique can be used as a validation of such force fields. Using MD allows us to identify and to assign contributions to the QENS signal from different parts of the polymers and to determine the activation energies of the different motions.