Colloquium Series: Dr Louis Madsen, Virginia Tech

Join us at Chapman Hall 125 for our Colloquium Series. Dr. Louis Madsen, research professor at VA Tech will be joining us to present his research on the “Transport and Structural Phenomena in Molecular Ionic Composite Solid Electrolytes.”
 
Research Synopsis

Our group has been developing a class of solid electrolytes based on a highly charged double helical polymer combined with various mobile ions (ionic liquids, salts, acids, etc). We term this class of materials molecular ionic composites (MICs), and they rely on a highly rigid and charged double helical polymer. We can modulate the mechanical, transport, and stability properties of MICs over wide ranges by changing the molecular weight of the polymer and the chemistry and content of the additional ionic components. I will discuss the state of understanding of MICs, from the dependence of multi-scale morphology and transport on composition, to the influence of specific molecular interactions on properties. I will touch on extensions beyond our original MIC materials that involve addition of other polymers, segregation of nanocrystalline salt-based conducting phases, and high modulus thermo-reversible hydrogels. I will also discuss progress toward practical alkali-metal batteries.

Biography

Louis Madsen Group

Madsen grew up in Madison, WI, attended Grinnell College (IA), obtained his PhD at Caltech, and postdoc’ed at UNC Chapel Hill and Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand. Since joining Virginia Tech in 2006, Lou’s research has focused on (1) using multi-modal NMR to investigate fundamental and unexplained phenomena in soft materials used for energy conversion/storage, water purification, and nanomedicine, and (2) self-assembling and understanding solid polymer-based electrolytes for safe and high energy density batteries.