{"id":180586,"date":"2024-01-15T21:24:36","date_gmt":"2024-01-16T03:24:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/2024\/01\/model-outlines-how-ionic-blockades-influence-energy-recovery-in-forward-bias-bipolar-membranes"},"modified":"2024-01-15T21:24:36","modified_gmt":"2024-01-16T03:24:36","slug":"model-outlines-how-ionic-blockades-influence-energy-recovery-in-forward-bias-bipolar-membranes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/2024\/01\/model-outlines-how-ionic-blockades-influence-energy-recovery-in-forward-bias-bipolar-membranes","title":{"rendered":"Model outlines how ionic blockades influence energy recovery in forward bias bipolar membranes"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a class=\"aligncenter blog-photo\" href=\"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog.images\/model-outlines-how-ionic-blockades-influence-energy-recovery-in-forward-bias-bipolar-membranes2.jpg\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Bipolar membranes (BPMs) are a class of ion-exchange membranes typically comprising a cation-and an anion-exchange layer. While these membranes have recently been integrated in various electrochemical devices for a wide range of application, the processes underlying their operation are not yet fully understood.<\/p>\n<p>Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) recently developed a new mechanistic model that explains the forward bias polarization mechanisms of BPMs in mixed electrolytes with varying acidities and basicities. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41560-023-01404-7\">Their model<\/a>, introduced in <i>Nature Energy<\/i>, could guide the development of strategies to overcome the issue of ionic blockades, which can adversely impact the performance of forward bias BPM devices.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe were initially trying to design an electrolyzer that converts carbon dioxide CO<sub>2<\/sub> into useful feedstocks or fuels using bipolar membranes (BPMs),\u201d Yogesh Surendranath, co-author of the paper, told Tech Xplore. \u201cTo provide a little context, CO<sub>2<\/sub> electrolyzers are most efficient when operating with alkaline electrolyte solutions such as <a href=\"https:\/\/techxplore.com\/tags\/potassium+hydroxide\/\" rel=\"tag\" class=\"\">potassium hydroxide<\/a>, but because CO<sub>2<\/sub> is an acid gas, it reacts with alkaline solutions to produce carbonate solutions over time.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Bipolar membranes (BPMs) are a class of ion-exchange membranes typically comprising a cation-and an anion-exchange layer. While these membranes have recently been integrated in various electrochemical devices for a wide range of application, the processes underlying their operation are not yet fully understood. Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) recently developed a new [\u2026]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":427,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19,1497],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-180586","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-chemistry","category-energy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/180586","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/427"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=180586"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/180586\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=180586"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=180586"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=180586"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}