Ruilan Guo, Frank M. Freimann Associate Professor of Engineering in the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, was the featured speaker at the February 22 NDnano networking lunch for affiliated faculty and staff. Her presentation was entitled “Leveraging Free Volume-based Microporosity Design to Advance Polymer Membrane Separations.”

Dr. Guo presented background information on opportunities to lower energy consumption in industrial gas separations and how polymer membranes could be utilized. She then reviewed key properties that drive the performance of polymer membranes in these processes and her approach for overcoming the current limitations of microporous, polymer membranes, including physical aging and membrane plasticization. To address these issues, Professor Guo has modified the polymer architecture with iptycene-containing structure units that provide positive benefit to the effects of physical aging and plasticization in the polymer membranes. She reviewed characterization results of these new polymers, showing their improved performance compared to current commercial membrane materials. The presentation concluded with a Q&A discussion with the audience.
 
You can learn more about Professor Guo in the 2020 Women Lead feature.

NDnano sponsors monthly networking meetings to provide a forum for faculty and staff to discuss recent research, probe new ideas, and connect with new collaborators. Notre Dame faculty and staff are invited to attend and join in the discussion to learn and advance research at Notre Dame. Visit the NDnano events page to learn about future networking sessions.