August 6, 2024 -- August 6, 2024
Prof. Nitash P. Balsara
Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering Department
University of California, Berkeley
Date & Time: 06th August 2024 at 4pm, High Tea after the lecture.
Venue: Faculty Hall, Main Building, IISc
Abstract:
It is natural to focus on the movement of ions inside batteries. In this talk, I will focus on the movement of neutral solvent molecules under applied electric fields. My journey toward the study of this effect began in 1979, when Professor K.S. Gandhi taught me about the continuity equation in the context of fluid mechanics. I will describe how this equation changes in the presence of an applied electric field. The efficacy of any electrochemical system depends on the fraction of energy used to move the working ion (lithium being the most popular ion these days). The energy used to move the solvent molecules is wasted, and thus important to understand. In addition to electrochemical experiments, I will discuss results obtained by quasi-elastic neutron scattering (QENS). The solvent that dissolves ions can either be a polymer or a low molecular weight solvent (liquid). In the case of polymers, the solvation shell comprises polymer segments that translate coherently with the working ion for a short while before they diffuses away due to Brownian motion. This coherent motion is studied directly by QENS, and it provides the molecular basis for understanding continuum ion transport.
About Speaker:
Nitash P. Balsara is a chemical engineer with a bachelor’s degree from the Indian Institute of Technology in Kanpur, India in 1982. His graduate education began with a master’s degree from Clarkson University. This was followed by PhD from RPI. After 2 post-docs at the University of Minnesota and Exxon, he joined the faculty of Department of Chemical Engineering at Polytechnic University in Brooklyn. In 2000, he accepted the job that he currently holds: a joint appointment as professor of Chemical Engineering at the University of California, Berkeley, where is currently the Charles W. Tobias Professor of Electrochemistry, and faculty scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Along with his students and collaborators, he cofounded two battery start-ups, Seeo, Inc., and Blue Current.
