Conjugation effect of amine molecules in non-aqueous Mg redox flow batteries.

Nonaqueous magnesium redox flow batteries (Mg RFBs) are attractive for low-cost, high-energy-density and long-cycle-life stationary energy storage applications. However, state-of-the-art cathode redox-active molecules suffer from low solubility and low redox potential. Herein, we screened a range of cathode redox-active molecules and identified amine molecules as optimal to couple with the Mg anode.

Coarse-Grained Molecular Dynamics Simulation of Solvent-Dependent Cellulose Nanofiber Interactions.

Associations between cellulose are important both in biofuel production and in the use of cellulose for biomaterials. Cellulose nanofibers (CNFs) are sustainable, strong, light-weight alternatives to traditional materials in manufacturing, but are challenging to obtain due to irreversible aggregation in solution during preparative fibrillation. Therefore, it is imperative to understand the underlying factors driving aggregation with a view to designing solvents that can effectively compete with inter-fiber interactions, hence reducing aggregation.

Atomistic Simulations of Polydisperse Lignin Melts Using Simple Polydisperse Residue Input Generator.

Understanding the physics of lignin will help rationalize its function in plant cell walls as well as aiding practical applications such as deriving biofuels and bioproducts. Here, we present SPRIG (Simple Polydisperse Residue Input Generator), a program for generating atomic-detail models of random polydisperse lignin copolymer melts i.e.

Influence of charge sequence on the adsorption of polyelectrolytes to oppositely-charged polyelectrolyte brushes.

When a solution of polyanionic chains is placed in contact with a polycationic brush, the polyanions adsorb into the brush. We investigate the influence of the charge sequences of the free and bound species on the thermodynamics of polyelectrolyte adsorption. As model systems, we consider free and brush polyelectrolytes with either block or alternating charge sequences, and study the adsorption process using coarse-grained Langevin dynamics with implicit solvent, explicit counterions, and excess salt.

Influence of topographically patterned angled guidelines on directed self-assembly of block copolymers.

Single chain in mean-field Monte Carlo simulations were employed to study the self-assembly of block copolymers (BCP) in thin films that use trapezoidal guidelines to direct the orientation and alignment of lamellar patterns. The present study explored the influence of sidewall interactions and geometry of the trapezoidal guidelines on the self-assembly of perpendicularly oriented lamellar morphologies. When both the sidewall and the top surface exhibit preferential interactions to the same block of the BCP, trapezoidal guidelines with intermediate taper angles were found to result in less defective perpendicularly orientated morphologies.

Ion transport mechanisms in lamellar phases of salt-doped PS-PEO block copolymer electrolytes.

We use a multiscale simulation strategy to elucidate, at an atomistic level, the mechanisms underlying ion transport in the lamellar phase of polystyrene-polyethylene oxide (PS-PEO) block copolymer (BCP) electrolytes doped with LiPF salts. Explicitly, we compare the results obtained for ion transport in the microphase separated block copolymer melts to those for salt-doped PEO homopolymer melts. In addition, we also present results for dynamics of the ions individually in the PEO and PS domains of the BCP melt, and locally as a function of the distance from the lamellar interfaces.

On the relationship between the local segmental dynamics and the tagged monomer dynamics in lamellar phases of diblock copolymers.

In this brief article, we present results from coarse-grained molecular dynamics simulations which probed the relationship between the local segmental dynamics and the tagged monomer dynamics in lamellar phases of diblock copolymers. Our results demonstrate that monomer relaxation times do not provide directly a quantitatively accurate measure of the spatial variations in segmental dynamics. However, a convolution of the monomer density distributions with their corresponding relaxation times is shown to provide an approximate, but accurate, quantitative characterization of the average local segmental dynamics.

Segmental dynamics in lamellar phases of tapered copolymers.

Recent experiments have reported that the lamellar phase of salt-doped tapered copolymers exhibit higher ionic conductivity compared to those seen in similar morphologies of diblock copolymers. Such observations were in turn rationalized by invoking the corresponding glass transition temperature of the segregated copolymers. In this work we report the results of coarse-grained molecular dynamics simulations to identify the mechanisms underlying such characteristics.

Influence of nanoparticle-ion and nanoparticle-polymer interactions on ion transport and viscoelastic properties of polymer electrolytes.

We use atomistic simulations to probe the ion conductivities and mechanical properties of polyethylene oxide electrolytes containing Al2O3nanoparticles. We specifically study the influence of repulsive polymer-nanoparticle and ion-nanoparticle interactions and compare the results with those reported for electrolytes containing the polymorph β-Al2O3nanoparticles. We observe that incorporating repulsive nanoparticle interactions generally results in increased ionic mobilities and decreased elastic moduli for the electrolyte.

Coarse-graining in simulations of multicomponent polymer systems.

We investigate the mapping required between the interaction parameters of two different coarse-grained simulation models to ensure a match of the long-range structural characteristics of multicomponent polymeric system. The basis for our studies is the recent work of Morse and workers, which demonstrated the existence of a mapping between the interaction parameters of different coarse-grained simulation models which allow for a matching of the peak of the disordered state structure factor in symmetric diblock copolymers. We investigate the extensibility of their results to other polymeric systems by studying a variety of systems, including, asymmetric diblock copolymers, symmetric triblock copolymers, and diblock copolymer-solvent mixtures.