PMEAL

The Porous Materials Engineering & Analysis Lab (PMEAL) focuses on the study of atypical porous media, such as engineered materials including electrodes, membranes, filters, papers, and catalyst supports. These materials are a challenge to study using the classic tools and theories developed for the traditional geoscience applications such as rock, sand, and soil. Research in our lab focuses on three main aspects: measuring transport and structural properties by developing novel characterization tools, modeling transport processes and device performance using pore-scale simulations, and making customized materials targeted for specific applications based on the findings and results of the other two steps. We are also highly interested in visualization of porous materials using x-ray tomography, and extracting previously unimaginable information via quantitative analysis on the resultant volumetric images. This aspect of our work actually bridges all three of the main themes.