Pinar Akcora Receives NSF Grant to Study How Ions and Polymers Interact in Ionogels
Pinar Akcora, associate professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science at Stevens Institute of Technology, has been named the lead principal investigator on the collaborative project, “Revealing Structure-Ionic Transport Relationship in Polymer-Ionic Liquid Ionogels.” The National Science Foundation (NSF) Chemical Structure and Dynamics (CSD) program is funding the three-year study.
Akcora and the team are investigating how ions move inside ionogels (jelly-like materials that trap a liquid with charged particles inside a solid structure, letting electricity move while the material stays flexible). Researchers often study gels to make them stronger or more flexible, but this is the first initiative ever to use experiments and simulations to investigate the actual polymer chain conformations and ion distributions in ionogels.
This project represents a deep dive into the fundamental question of how polymer chains connect and interact with one another.
“Ionogels are fascinating because they let electricity flow while remaining soft, which makes them useful for sensors, soft electronics, drug delivery and biomedical devices,” Akcora said. “We want to explore what happens inside the gel at the molecular level.”
Ionogels combine polymer networks with liquid salts, creating complex areas where ions move differently than they would elsewhere, and causing the gel to swell unevenly.
“Most research looks at making gels stronger or more flexible,” Akcora explained. “Instead, we’re looking at how polymers and ions interact to shape the gel itself. If we can control how ions move and how the gel behaves, we can better understand how to control electrical conductivity and maximize the potential of ionogels in practical ways.”
To explore these effects, Akcora’s team is using neutron scattering facilities at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, to examine atom locations and molecule arrangements. Co-investigator Jindal Shah, an Oklahoma State University professor who uses computer simulations to study ionic liquids, will explore how ions behave inside ionogels.
“This project will help us see how polymer conformations change and how ions distribute in the gel,” Akcora said. “Our findings could help design ionogels for technologies that need materials that are strong, flexible and conduct electricity, such as sensors, medical devices and soft electronics. What excites me most is the application of ionogels for biomedical devices. This application area is new to me, and I’m eager to learn and apply those learnings to future research directions.”
A Stevens graduate student will join the project for its duration, and undergraduate researchers will have the opportunity to work on the project as well.
The team also plans outreach for K–12 students. American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) student chapter members from Stevens and Oklahoma State will join Akcora and Shah to visit local high schools to demonstrate simple, hands-on experiments and introduce chemical engineering as a potential career path.
“This grant not only supports graduate and undergraduate research but also inspires the next generation of engineers,” she said. “It’s exciting to see students interact with real science and discover how these materials can impact technology.”
By breaking new ground in understanding these versatile, electrically active gels, Akcora and her team are paving the way to building smarter materials for sensors, actuators that mimic muscles, energy storage devices, and more.
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