Travel Grant For International Workshop On Characterization Of Porous Materials

Geological coal and shale deposits, the cell membrane, and concrete are but a few examples of porous materials. The properties of porous materials are completely different from those of non-porous solids, as the pores give both structure and function. For example, chemical mixtures flowing through a porous solid may begin to sEnvironmental Protection Agencyrate, as one component of the mixture may act more strongly with the surface of the pore. This principle is the basis for the use of porous materials as mass sEnvironmental Protection Agencyrating agents, and the application of nearly unlimited materials as adsorbents and membranes. Today a number of new applications for porous materials are emerging, including as electrodes in the electrical energy storage systems, batteries, supercapacitors, and advanced membranes for water desalinization that have molecular-level specificity for solutes. Advanced characterization techniques will continue to catalyze these new developments, as these techniques increase our understanding of molecular interactions with pores, which is a necessary aspect of creating new paradigms for material design for chemical and biological sEnvironmental Protection Agencyrations.This award supports participation of graduate students, post-doctoral research associates, and untenured junior faculty, for travel to the 8th International Workshop on Characterization of Porous Materials in Delray Reach Florida, USA, on May 6-9, 2018. In this interdisciplinary workshop, the latest developments relevant to the characterization of porous materials will be presented by participants from academia, government, and industry. Multiscale characterization and modeling is the theme of the meeting, as indicated by the sub-title: 'From Angstroms to Millimeters'. As this area undergoes a Renaissance, applying ever more complex characterization techniques to new problems, the advanced characterization is enabling the design of new materials with molecular-level specificity combined with process-level optimization. These advances will help to commercialize new materials to help reduce the parasitic energy losses from chemical sEnvironmental Protection Agencyrations in the production of commodity chemicals, processes which account for over 10% of the worlds energy consumption. This travel grant will support up to 15 participations from US Universities to travel to this conference, and proactively position young investigators to lead research in the field.This award reflects National Science Foundation 's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.