Ashley David, an senior undergraduate researcher is 1 of 8 students to win a prestigous IDEA Grant award from FSU for $4,000. Ashley presented her work in the President's showcase of Undergraduate Research Excellence in September 2022, and gave a oral presentation on her work "Analyzing the Soret Effect using Time-Resolved FTIR-ATR". Read more about the president's showcase here
Ashley David attended and presented her senior honors in the major project "Analyzing the Soret Effect Using Time Resolved FTIR-ATR" at the 242nd Electrochemical Society Conference in Atlanta, Georgia. Out of 112 posters, she was awarded the second place prize, read more: here Ashley also attended the American Institue of Chemical Engineers National Student Conference in Pheonix, Arizona. She again presented her work in the student poster compeition and won 1st place in the Materials Science and Engineering Division.
As a member of Women in Math, Science, Engineering (WIMSE), Laura was accepted into a Research Experience Program (REP). Through this program, she is able to support herself and conduct research in the PAES lab. This program advocates for women in STEM to engage in undergraduate research and eventually help them go to graduate school.
Omar participated in a workshop related to SAXS at the BioCAT beam line of the Advanced Photon Source. The Biophysics Collaborative Access Team (BioCAT) is offering an intensive workshop in biological small-angle x-ray solution scattering (BioSAXS). BioCAT is organized as a National Institutes of Health (NIH) Biomedical Technology Resource and is funded by the National Institute of General Biomedical Sciences (NIGMS). BioCAT primary research tool is a very high brightness X-ray beam-line at the Advanced Photon Spource (APS) at Argon National Laboratory (ANL)
. Due to the pandemic, the workshop will take place virtually from 3/29/21 to 4/1/21, the students will attend 4 days of virtual lecture and will be trained via hands-on software tutorials on the basics of BioSAXS data collection and processing from expert practitioners in the field. Also, the student will get the chance to mail in samples for data collection on the BioCAT beamline before the course, and they will analyze their own data during the workshop.
Fighting to win the Nation's wars is not only done on the battlefield.
It is fought in the classrooms, in the national laboratories, and at homes around the country. Although his work is no longer on the front lines of the war on terror, his contributions today continue with the Army Research Laboratory charged with the task of engineering advanced polymers and testing these models through simulation and experimental measurement. His experience on the battlefield brings a unique connection to the new mission
with the ARL and gives a motivation that can only be described as pivotal.
Click the link to watch the video. Check out "Number 10: Artificial muscles made from plastic."
Florida State University has announced that they are increasing the electric bus fleet from 3 to 18. Exciting news for those of us interested in sustainable energy and performing research on materials for safer, longer-lasting electric vehicle batteries.
The ten-week HBCU/MI Summer Faculty Fellowship enabled Dr. Hallinan to apply his polymer expertise in a new and exciting application that uses twisted and coiled fibers for actuation.
Best Colleges 2020guidebook.
Since 2016, Florida State University (FSU) has climbed 25 places in the rankings. FSU has risen 8 spots in the past year alone and 7 places in the previous year. FSU now ranks 18th among Public Universities, achieving the university's goal of being a top 25 public university.
has made similar strides in recent years with an increase of 5 spots in the past year in Graduate Engineering Colleges and a gain of 7 places the previous year. With continued support from the Florida Legislature, Dean J. Murray Gibson plans to continue this trajectory.
Our work is featured on FAMU Radio. It airs on WANM 90.5 FM at the half hours of 11:30, 2:30, 3:30, and 4:30 on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.
Dr. Hallinan was awarded an NSF CAREER award from the Polymers program in the Division of Materials Research at the National Science Foundation to study dynamics in nanostructured polymer materials. The main research objective of this CAREER project is to develop a deeper understanding of the dynamics of strongly-segregated block copolymers (BCPs) across a broad range of length and time scales. Strongly-segregated block copolymers form predictable nanostructures with sharp interfaces, and they decouple small molecule transport from mechanical properties. The underlying causes of this decoupling are not well understood. Interfacial effects associated with tethering and/or confinement could be responsible for modifying the properties of each phase. On the other hand, properties like low-frequency elasticity can emerge from the structure itself. Only limited effort has been dedicated to understanding dynamics in strongly segregated BCPs, especially on length scales comparable to the size of the nanostructures. First, x-ray photon correlation spectroscopy (XPCS) will be used to interrogate on such length scales across a wide range of time scales to measure structural dynamics such as grain rotations and surface waves. Second, the effect of tethering on local (segmental) dynamics will be achieved using selective deuteration and neutron spin echo spectroscopy, complemented by dielectric spectroscopy. Third, the connection among dynamics on local and mesoscopic length scales with macroscopic properties will be investigated. Mechanical properties will be evaluated with rheology. Small molecule transport will be measured with several time-resolved techniques including impedance spectroscopy, pressure decay, and infrared spectroscopy. These experiments will be performed on a glass-rubber block copolymer with mechanical contrast and on a rubber-rubber block copolymer without mechanical contrast in order to differentiate BCP grain motion from surface waves. The effect of interface softness on local segment dynamics will also be evaluated. In addition to examining the effect of the mechanical contrast, composition and processing will be used examine the effect of morphology and grain size on dynamics. Experimental measurements of structural dynamics will be analyzed in the context of the Soft Glassy Rheology model, segmental dynamics in the context of Rostiashvili's theory of polymer dynamics, and macroscopic properties in the context of several theories including effective medium theory. Fundamental understanding of how dynamics is transmitted across such a wide range of length and time scales will enable intelligent design of nanostructured polymeric materials with enhanced decoupling of important, application-specific properties, such as permeability and toughness. The research effort is integrated with an educational effort to impact diversity in STEM through teaching, mentoring, and educational outreach.
On the occasion of their 70th anniversary, LG Chem held a Battery Innovation Contest seeking disruptive ideas to redefine the landscape of rechargeable batteries and address limitations related to power, energy, cost, and safety. The team from the Hallinan lab was one of the winners, selected to advance their efforts studying Lithium Reactions in Solid Electrolytes that Resist Dendrites. This work first began at the Florida A & M University–Florida State University College of Engineering as an undergraduate honors thesis by Alex Rausch, who graduated in 2015. Several other researchers have been involved in the effort since then to develop electrochemical techniques that can be used to study reaction kinetics in solid polymer electrolytes. One of the members of that team is Marc Berliner, pictured setting up electrochemical protocols to run on lithium polymer-electrolyte cells. Traditional approaches applied to liquid electrolytes (with rotating electrodes) cannot be used with solid electrolytes. The techniques developed in the Hallinan lab overcome this, providing the first direct evidence that lithium plating and stripping is dictated primarily by a passivation layer that forms on the surface of lithium metal. Understanding lithium plating and stripping is important to prevent dendrites, which cause catastrophic failure of batteries. There is a strong push to use lithium metal in batteries because it would increase energy ten times. The proposed work will further delve into understanding lithium plating and stripping kinetics in solid electrolyte as well as the role of the chemical and physical structure on the surface of lithium metal. This research effort will lay the groundwork for a collaborative effort between the PI and LG Chem to develop the next generation of solid electrolytes for lithium metal batteries, significantly increasing battery capacity and decreasing cost.
Ricky Torres is a Marine veteran and junior Chemical Engineering major with a special interest in sustainable energy and water management. Beginning last spring, he has been conducting research under the supervision of Dr. Hallinan in the Polymers for Advanced Energy Sustainability lab at the College of Engineering. He was awarded the Dr. Jack Saltiel Undergraduate Research Award to support his research on electrochemical recovery of thermal energy using polymer electrolytes, which he presented at the FSU Fall Showcase of Undergraduate Research Excellence. One of his long-term goals is to oversee global projects helping shape a safer, more sustainable world.
On Wednesday, June 15th, 2016, Daniel Hallinan Jr. testified before the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology; Subcommittee on Energy of the U.S. House of Representatives. He was approached by Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory (LBL), where he had held a postdoctoral fellowship before coming to Florida State University (FSU). LBL had been asked by Representative Alan Grayson, a Democrat from FL, to recommend a witness with experience using the Department of Energy Office of Science's national light sources for energy-related research. Both the Advanced Light Source (ALS) of LBL and the Advanced Photon Source (APS) of Argonne National Laboratory (ANL) had recently submitted proposals to upgrade their facilities. As ranking member of the House Subcommittee on Energy, Rep. Grayson was looking for a witness who could not only speak to the impact of our national light sources on energy research and national needs, but who could also explain the purpose and benefit of the upgrades.
The hearing on Innovation in Solar Fuels, Electricity Storage, and Advanced Materials included Dr. Hallinan and three renowned scientists in artificial photosynthesis (Dr. Nate Lewis, California Institute of Technology), multivalent ion batteries (Daniel Scherson, Case Western Reserve University), and quantum materials (Collin Broholm, John's Hopkins University). The subcommittee chair (Randy Weber, R-Texas), committee chair (Lamar Smith, R-Texas), and ranking member (Alan Grayson, D-Florida) each gave five minute statements followed by five minute statements from each witness. Then the subcommittee members questioned the witnesses in turn. Video coverage of the hearing is available online.
During his postdoctoral fellowship Dr. Hallinan conducted experiments and worked with beamline scientists at four beam lines of the ALS at LBL and one beam line at the Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource. As an independent investigator at FSU, his group still works with scientists at LBL, but now they also use several beam lines at the APS at ANL. This makes it possible to perform time-resolved experiments (similar to movies) of the dynamics of block copolymers and polymer nanocomposites (mixtures of polymers and small particles) that are relevant for lithium batteries. With proposed upgrades it will be possible to look at essential dynamics occurring over smaller length scales that are simply inaccessible now.
Dr. Hallinan's group is not only interested in materials for lithium batteries, but also in membranes for water purification. In both of these areas, identified as grand challenges by the National Academy of Engineers, heterogeneous polymers are promising materials – understanding dynamics in them is crucial to enabling technological solutions to these challenges. It is only with these exceptionally bright light sources (one billion times that of the sun and slated to increase by a factor of 100 with proposed upgrades) that rapid experiments on extremely small length scales are possible to further our understanding of advanced materials, such as block copolymers, for energy storage and water purification.
Plastic Recycling
New plastic recycling initiatives are available that allow consumers to close the loop on plastic packaging materials, such as health and personal care products. In many cases, these plastic containers are not recycled in single-stream, municipal waste facilities. Check out the article at Plastics Technology by Heather Caliendo.
Researchers develop battery component that uses compound from plants
A team of Florida State University researchers at FAMU-FSU College of Engineering has developed a way to use a material found in plants to help create safer batteries.
J. Murray Gibson, front right, listens as Onyekachi Oparaji explains laboratory duties conducted in the Chemical Engineering Unit Operation Lab. Members of the college's Management Council toured the college on Thursday, 09/08/2016
Come join faculty from the FAMU-FSU College of Engineering at the Challenger Learning Center as part of Kids' Free Day the third Saturday of each month for hands-on experiments.
Safety is the paramount design concern for lithium-ion batteries. The recent Boeing 787 battery melt-downs brought this fact back into public awareness. In order to reduce weight, the Boeing 787 control system was converted from hydraulic to electronic, requiring a large lithium-ion battery. Several battery failures were subsequently reported, and the National Transportation Safety Board released images.
The solution to this battery safety concern has been to increase insulation and control measures. A schematic of such is shown in Figure 2. Note that significant volume is now dedicated to both thermal and electrical insulation. Our laboratory is studying polymer electrolytes that are inherently much safer than existing technology. We replace the flammable and volatile organic liquids with nonflammable and non-volatile polymer. Please refer to our research page for descriptions of our research projectssuch as that in Figure 1.
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