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DY: Fachverband Dynamik und Statistische Physik

DY 30: Focus Session: New Trends in Nonequilibrium Physics – Conservation Laws and Nonreciprocal Interactions II

DY 30.1: Invited Talk

Wednesday, March 20, 2024, 15:00–15:30, BH-N 243

Continuum Approach for Studying Morphological Deformations of Multiple-Phase Renewable Energy Devices — •Arik Yochelis — Swiss Institute for Dryland Enviremental and Energy Research, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Sede Boqer Campus, Midreshet Ben-Gurion 8499000, Israel — Department of Physics, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Be'er Sheva 8410501, Israel

Optimizing the morphological properties of soft-matter renewable energy devices is not only challenging technologically but also reveals novel physical and mathematical puzzles. For example, recent experimental studies of bulk heterojunction (BHJ) organic photovoltaics (OPV) show that phase separation can surprisingly inhibit morphological changes in three-phase (donor/mixed/acceptor) constellations. Motivated by BHJ observations, the development of a continuum model (dissipative parabolic-elliptic PDEs) that undertakes the coupling between the spatiotemporal evolution of the material and generated charge dynamics along with charge transfer at the device electrodes, will be presented. Model analysis in the spirit of reaction-diffusion-type mechanisms uncovers the bending (zigzag mode) and the pinching (cross-roll mode) of the donor/acceptor stripes, where the latter leads to the formation of disconnected domains and hence to loss of charge flux near the electrodes. In the end, a similar approach is applied to renewable Ni (Edison-type) batteries in which charge/discharge electrochemical reactions and capacity are associated with fingering instability between the multiplicity of Ni phases.

Keywords: Pattern formation; Renewable energy; Soft matter; Phase separation; Electrochemistry