Monday, January 11, 2016 2:00 pm
-
2:00 pm
EST (GMT -05:00)
MC 6496
Candidate
Lindsey Daniels | Applied Math, University of Waterloo
Title
Modeling the Interaction of Graphene with a Liquid Electrolyte
Abstract
Unlike
other
areas
of
graphene
applications,
the
theoretical
modeling
of
graphene
based
biochemical
sensors
lags
significantly
behind
experimental
work.
In
these
applications,
graphene
operates
in
a
field
effect
transistor
configuration,
where
its
surface
is
in
contact
with
a
liquid
electrolyte.
By
applying
a
gate
potential,
one
may
control
the
electrical
conductance
of
graphene,
which
is
highly
sensitive
to
the
presence
of
adsorbed
ions,
ion
concentration
and
the
pH
of
the
electrolyte.
Modeling
of
the
electrostatic
interactions
of
the
system
will
be
done
using
well-established
models
from
electrochemistry,
which
generalize
the
Poisson-Boltzmann
equation
taking
into
account
the
finite
size
of
ions,
as
well
as
two
modifications
of
the
dielectric
constant
of
the
solvent
due
to
dielectric
saturation
in
strong
electric
fields
and
due
to
excess
ion
polarization.
In
the
long
term
plan,
the
effects
of
pH
on
the
system
will
be
analyzed
using
site-binding
theory,
which
will
also
be
used
to
study
the
competitive
binding
of
protons
and
salt
ions
from
the
solution.