| KEYWORD |
Area Engineering
Ionic membranes for blue energy
Thesis abroad
keywords BLUE ENERGY, MEMBRANE, NANOCELLULOSE, POLYELECTROLYTE
Reference persons ALESSANDRA VITALE
External reference persons Matthieu Fumagalli (Université de Lyon)
Thesis type EXPERIMENTAL RESEARCH
Description The work will be conducted in Grenoble (France), at CERMAV research center.
Blue energy is a renewable and non intermittent energy source originating from salinity gradients between fresh (river) and salty water (sea, brine), whose potential (1 TW) largely exceeds hydroelectricity for instance. It can be converted to electricity by reverse electrodialysis, a technology relying on the employement of anionic and cationic membranes. Membranes currently available are non renewable and present low performances to harvest blue energy, which is due to their poor nanostructure and the impossibility to tune the membrane critical parameters (ionic content and spatial distribution, pore size).
In order to overcome those issues, we propose a new design for those membranes based on the employement of nanocellulose which provide a biosourced nanostructured scaffold once hydrated, further associated to grafted polyelectrolytes which can bring the ionic transport properties. The purpose of the internship is to establish the full potential of such approach.
See also 2025_ master+phd_ionic membrane for blue energy.pdf
Notes The internship will be paid.
Deadline 30/01/2025
PROPONI LA TUA CANDIDATURA