Center for Materials for Water and Energy Systems (M-WET)


Director

Benny Freeman


Lead Institution

University of Texas at Austin


Class

2018-2022


Mission

To discover and understand fundamental science to design new membrane materials, develop tools and knowledge to predict new materials’ interactions with targeted solutes from recalcitrant water sources, provide fit for purpose water, and recover valuable solutes with less energy.


Research Topics

bio-inspired, separations, membranes, water, mesoscale science, materials and chemistry by design, mesostructured materials, synthesis (novel systems), synthesis (self-assembly), synthesis (predictive), synthesis (scalable processing)


Systems Studied

Systems: polymer

Interfaces: organic/organic, liquid/solid

Nanostructured: None


Experimental and Theoretical Methods

X-ray diffraction and scattering, X-ray spectroscopy, surface science, molecular dynamics (MD), density functional theory (DFT), monte carlo (MC), finite element methods, continuum modeling, mesoscale modeling, multiscale modeling, machine learning, data science


Partner Institutions

  • Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
  • University of California, Santa Barbara
  • University of Texas at Austin
 

BES Staff Contact

James Rustad, Philip Wilk