Final results from our 2024 Future Materials Innovators Program students
May 30, 2025
2:30PM to 3:30PM
Date/Time
Date(s) - 30/05/2025
2:30 pm - 3:30 pm
Categories
1- Investigating the Impact of Shear Control on Battery Electrode Preparation at the Laboratory Scale, by Storm Gourley (Higgins Lab) and Nathan Mullins (Latulippe and De Lannoy Labs)
Coating and drying of electrode slurries is a critical part of manufacturing commercial scale battery electrodes, with all downstream production steps (e.g., calendaring, slitting/notching, winding, etc.,) depending on the quality of the electrode cast. While modern operations utilize roll-to-roll coating methods to minimize processing time and ensure inter-batch consistency, these techniques are often not feasible for laboratory scale research and development of battery electrodes owing to the high cost and large footprint of required infrastructure. As a result, laboratory scale electrode preparation is typically done using a manual blade coating method which offers minimal control over quality affecting parameters including the speed and height of the blade, introducing potential inconsistencies in electrode-to-electrode quality. This issue of variability is exaggerated by the lack of statistical rigor in battery research and development; whereby electrochemical performance for new cathode materials is often reported from singular data points (e.g., from a single coin-cell). This mischaracterization can lead to issues with performance validation when developing new materials, slowing the development of next-generation batteries. Herein, we use a novel, low-cost, automated casting system developed from 3D printer architecture to demonstrate the importance of shear control when preparing battery electrodes at the laboratory scale to obtain consistent replication of mass loading, thickness, morphology, and electrochemical performance. By accurately modulating the speed and height of the blade (± 5 µm) during the casting process, the variance in mass loading across a 100 cm2 electrode sheet was shown to be greatly reduced. Inter-electrode coefficient of variance was minimized to < 7% (mass loading) when casting at a speed of 5 cm s-1 with a blade height of 150 ?m in comparison to > 15% when casting is done manually. Taken together this work highlights the importance of holding a high level of control over electrode casting for lab scale research and development of next-generation battery materials.
2- Exploring Conditions for Forming Oligonucleotide-based Complex Coacervates for Encapsulation and Intracellular Delivery of Functional Proteins, by Annina Ashok (Bujold Lab), Kaitlin Davies (Bujold Lab) and Marzuk Gazi (Dalnoki-Veress Lab)
Proteins are of interest for therapeutic development due to their unique characteristics and contribution towards vast biological functions. However, proteins exhibit inherent structural instability, surface charge and large morphology which prevents it from crossing the cell membrane efficiently. To address this, several protein delivery platforms have been explored which also includes non-covalent encapsulation. Non-covalent delivery methods are ideal as they maintain the structural and functional integrity of proteins by leaving the protein surface unmodified. Complex coacervation, a liquid-liquid phase separation phenomenon driven by the electrostatic attraction between oppositely charged polyelectrolytes, is a non-covalent method that can be explored for protein encapsulation. Specifically, we propose forming complex coacervates with cationic and anionic oligonucleotides, with the future goal of encapsulating proteins. Previously, coacervate formation using cationic poly-lysine, and anionic, single-stranded DNA has been characterized. Optical microscopy was used to track coacervate movement over time and measure their diffusion coefficients to determine the size. This model system was used to inform ideal coacervation conditions for cationic and anionic oligonucleotides. We synthesized cationic oligonucleotides via a standard solid-phase H-phosphonate coupling cycle and oxidative amination, replacing the phosphodiester anion with a protonatable amine, mimicking lysine. Two approximate cationic oligonucleotide lengths were synthesized: 20 bases, and 40 bases. The 40 base strand was achieved via post-synthetic bioconjugation. This attempt to form complex coacervates between oppositely charged oligonucleotides is novel. This would contribute further towards understanding the synthesis of coacervates using oligonucleotides as polyelectrolytes and the viability of this design as a therapeutic protein delivery vehicle.
In-Person: ABB 102
Online: https://mcmaster.zoom.us/j/98684911051
Meeting ID: 986 8491 1051
Passcode: 384583