19.05.21 - Sebastian Milster "Nonlinear response and feedback in driven penetrant transport through responsive polymer membranes"

 

The permeability and selectivity of polymer-based membranes for solute transport is important for many applications, e.g., controlled (drug) release or molecular filtration. While simulations and theory on the linear-response level have provided much insight for describing the membrane permeability, many transport processes occur in stationary or full nonequilibrium situations, i.e., beyond the linear response regime. Moreover, owing to the great advances in polymer science, the synthesis of self-regulating membranes that potentially control the permeability by a concentration-dependent feedback has become feasible. This talk highlights some of our investigations of solute permeation of polymer membranes, covering atomistic and coarse-grained MD simulations under equilibrium and steady-state conditions as well as large-scale probabilistic mean-field models. The latter allows not only the exploration of larger length and time scales, but also the investigation of the dynamic membrane response beyond the steady state, providing fundamental understanding for the design of self-regulating membranes in nonequilibrium.