Special Seminar: “Understanding Material-Fluid Interactions for Design at the Water-Energy Nexus “

Abstract:

Materials-driven solutions for clean water and sufficient energy are needed to accelerate the global transition to a sustainable future. Over the past few decades, advances in the development of materials for water and energy systems have been limited, relying primarily on trial-and-error approaches, with little regard for the physics of transport at the molecular level. Designing materials based on the knowledge of fluid-material interactions at the molecular level will substantially improve processes at the water-energy nexus. High-throughput computing and analytical techniques play a significant role at the core of this knowledge-based materials design. In this talk, I will present two studies to highlight the role of solid-fluid interactions on transport properties of nanoconfined fluids. I will also discuss how we can use this knowledge to devise rational design principles for the development of novel membrane materials. In the first study, we examine how material interactions and confinement change the key hydrodynamical properties of water in nanopores of carbon-based membranes. We then develop nanofluidic theories for flow in nanopores by revisiting classical theories of fluid mechanics. The developed theories can predict water transport through these membranes as observed in molecular dynamics (MD) simulations and experiments. In the second study, we investigate the effect of ion-nanopore interactions on ion-selective transport through nanoporous membranes using extensive MD simulations. Using these simulations in conjunction with analytical techniques, we develop molecular-level design principles to guide the development of next-generation ion-ion selective membrane materials. Highly selective membranes, inspired by nature’s biological channels, would significantly reduce the cost of future separation processes and enable the recovery of high-value species (e.g., lithium) from industrial wastewater and brine.

Bio:

Mohammad “Mosi” Heiranian is a postdoctoral associate in the Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering at Yale University. He obtained his B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Manitoba, and his M.S. and Ph.D. in Theoretical and Applied Mechanics from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. His expertise is in using the fundamentals of physics in conjunction with large-scale computer calculations to predict physical, chemical, and material properties of systems across different scales from quantum to continuum. Recently, his research has focused on understanding ion selective transport in nanopores for designing highly selective membrane materials for water and energy applications. He received the Michael Sutton Memorial Award for his outstanding research at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.