Effect of inorganic filler size on nanocomposite ion exchange membranes for salinity gradient power generation

Glabman, Shira

Title:

Effect of inorganic filler size on nanocomposite ion exchange membranes for salinity gradient power generation

dc.contributor.advisor	Chen, Yongsheng
dc.contributor.author	Glabman, Shira
dc.contributor.committeeMember	Crittenden, John
dc.contributor.committeeMember	Huang, Ching-Hua
dc.contributor.department	Civil and Environmental Engineering
dc.date.accessioned	2016-01-07T17:22:17Z
dc.date.available	2016-01-07T17:22:17Z
dc.date.created	2014-12
dc.date.issued	2014-12-05
dc.date.submitted	December 2014
dc.date.updated	2016-01-07T17:22:17Z
dc.description.abstract	Reverse electrodialysis (RED) is a technique that can capture electrical potential from mixing two water streams of different salt concentration through permselective ion exchange membranes. Effective design of ion exchange membranes through structure optimization is critical to increase the feasibility of salinity gradient power production by RED. In this work, we present the preparation of organic-inorganic nanocomposite cation exchange membranes containing sulfonated polymer, poly (2,6-dimethyl-1,4-phenylene oxide), and sulfonated silica (SiO2-SO3H). The effect of silica filler size at various loading concentrations on membrane structures, electrochemical properties, and the RED power performance is investigated. The membranes containing bigger-sized fillers (70 nm) at 0.5 wt% SiO2-SO3H exhibited a relatively favorable electrochemical characteristic for power performance: an area resistance of 0.85 Ω cm2, which is around 9.3% lower than the resistance of the membranes with smaller filler particles. The power performance of this nanocomposite cation exchange membrane in a RED stack showed 10% higher power output compared with the membranes containing small particle size and achieved the highest gross power density of 1.3 W m-2. Thus, further optimized combination of material properties and membrane structure is a viable option for the development of effective ion exchange membrane design, which could provide desirable electrochemical performance and greater power production by RED.
dc.description.degree	M.S.
dc.format.mimetype	application/pdf
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/1853/54311
dc.language.iso	en_US
dc.publisher	Georgia Institute of Technology
dc.subject	Reverse electrodialysis
dc.subject	Ion exchange membrane
dc.subject	Electrochemical characterization
dc.subject	Salinity gradient power
dc.subject	Nanocomposite
dc.subject	Silica
dc.title	Effect of inorganic filler size on nanocomposite ion exchange membranes for salinity gradient power generation
dc.type	Text
dc.type.genre	Thesis
dspace.entity.type	Publication
local.contributor.advisor	Chen, Yongsheng
local.contributor.corporatename	School of Civil and Environmental Engineering
local.contributor.corporatename	College of Engineering
relation.isAdvisorOfPublication	07477536-9f7c-4580-988f-d21ea0e72e97
relation.isOrgUnitOfPublication	88639fad-d3ae-4867-9e7a-7c9e6d2ecc7c
relation.isOrgUnitOfPublication	7c022d60-21d5-497c-b552-95e489a06569
thesis.degree.level	Masters