Selective separation of monovalent cationic species from complex mixtures is an industrially relevant procedure necessary for the recovery of many commodity materials, such as lithium from salt brines. Unfortunately, most conventional membranes lack selectivity between monovalent ions, rendering their use in such applications infeasible. One approach to overcoming selectivity limitations is to incorporate ligands into polymer matrices which specifically interact with target cations in an aqueous environment.
In this talk, I will discuss a few recent topics from our work on using atomistic and coarse-grained simulations to uncover the physics of solubility and diffusivity selectivities in polymer membranes. Our findings provide critical molecular-level insight into the interplay between membrane chemistry and ion selectivity, aiding in the rational design of selective membranes for resource recovery.
Prof. Venkat Ganesan presently holds the Les and Sherri Stuewer Endowed Chair of the Department of Chemical Engineering at the University of Texas at Austin. He obtained his BTech from IIT Madras in 1995 and Ph.D. from MIT in 1999. After a postdoc for 2 years in UCSB, he joined the department of Chemical Engineering at UT Austin in 2001, where he has been since.
In recognition of his research accomplishments, he have been honored by Alfred P. Sloan Fellowship (2004), the National Science Foundation’s CAREER award (2004), American Physical Society’s John H. Dillon Medal (2009), as a Kavli Fellow (2009), and elected as a fellow of American Physical Society (2013) and American Association for the Advancement of Science (2018) and distinguished alumni award from IIT Madras in 2022.