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PMN group||Physics of materials and nanostructures

The PMN Group (Physics of Materials and Nanostructures) brings together physicists and solid state and materials chemists. We have particular competance in the following approaches applied at the nanoscale

optical and vibrational spectroscopy - AFM microscopy
atomic scale modelling of physical properties
transport and magnetotransport
physical chemistry of confined environments and interfaces
exploratory synthesis - nanostructure assembly

Our research activities are grouped around the three following themes:

Nanostructures and nanocomposites: a central theme covering creation of nanostructures (nanowires, nanoparticles), their treatment (isolating individual nanoobjects, nanocomposites, ...), theoretical and experimental study of their structural and physical properties, and their eventual applications (carbon materials and conjugated polymers, confined ionic liquids, special artificial glasses, OLEDs, ...). We are also concerned with the development and utilisation of new analysis tools adapted to such systems.
Interface: Physics, Materials and Biology: A theme devoted to the interface between physics/chemistry/biology, synthesising and studying complex hybrid nanomaterials, such as carbon nanotubes in combination with biomolecules such as polysaccarides, DNA, or proteins. Once again it is often necessary to develop new techniques and approaches suitably adapted to these problems.
Advanced materials with non-conventional electronic properties: Synthesis and study of complex materials which possess remarkable electronic properties, such as, for example, metal-insulator transitions (resistive transition, Mott insulators and RRAM applications) induced by an electrical field.

Based around our core expertise, our tools include optical and vibrational spectroscopy (Raman Diffusion, FTIR), electrical transport measurements, atomic force microscopy, and computational modelling approaches (AIMPRO and SIESTA). We also develop new tools adapted for specific problems.

Our group was evaluated triple A+ by AERES. It is involved in many regional, national and European contracts, as well as various international collaborations at regional (Arclyn, Lemer PAX, ...), national (Hutchinson-Total, ST Microelectronics, RTE, Bolloré, Solvionic, ...) and international (Solvay, Sensotran, ...) level.

Much of our work is performed in collaboration with other groups within the IMN, including PCM (carbon materials, RRAM), CESES (photovoltaics, ...), ST2E (energy storage applications for new materials based on confined ionic liquids), MIOPS (nanoparticle synthesis for transparent p-type semiconductors, ...), ....

Alongside our research, members of the PMN are actively involved in teaching both physics and chemistry of materials and nanostructures at:

The Science and Technology Faculty at Nantes University (Physics Department)
The Ecole Polytechnique at Nantes University (Materials Department)
The IUT at Nantes (Science and Application of Materials Department)
as well at other institutions outside Nantes. Notably we are strongly involved in the M2 C'NANO Masters programme.

ANR MI6

Projet MI6

Modélisation des Interactions aux Interfaces de liquides Ioniques Ionogels

Du 01/01/2025 au 01/07/2028

English Version

Coordinateur du projet : Yann CLAVEAU MC (équipe PMN)

Personnels IMN impliqués : Jean LE BIDEAU (PR UNIV), Chris EWELS (DR CNRS), Samanvitha KUNIGAL (doctorante)

Financement total : 266670,52€

Les liquides ioniques (LI) sont des sels liquides à température ambiante. Ils sont des candidats intéressants pour des applications dans le domaine de l’énergie en tant qu’électrolytes plus sûr car ils possèdent une densité de stockage énergétique plus élevé (batteries, supercondensateurs). Leur principal défaut est leur viscosité relativement élevée due à la formation d’agrégats qui diminuent leur conductivité ionique. Notre groupe a montré que confiner un LI dans un hôte mésoporeux pouvait contrebalancer la formation de ces agrégats et ainsi augmenter la conductivité. Cependant, les mécanismes sous-jacents restent mal compris et les procédés expérimentaux difficiles à optimiser.
Malheureusement ces systèmes sont très complexes à simuler. Jusqu’à présent, la littérature s’est focalisée sur des simulations en dynamique moléculaire (MD) de systèmes de tailles limitées à quelques cations et anions d’intérêts. Arriver à généraliser la recherche de comportement désiré, comme une conductivité accrue n’a pas été atteint. Ceci est en contraste direct avec un champ parallèle (les cristaux liquides) dans lequel la modélisation s’est au contraire concentrée sur les interactions entre des formes de particules idéalisées et simplifiées.
Le but de MI6 est d’ouvrir une “route de design rationnel” pour sélectionner un liquide ionique et son hôte confinant (ionogel), plutôt que d’utiliser l’approche de type essai-erreur actuellement suivie par la communauté.

Cette démarche sera employée avec l’utilisation d’un modèle de structures abstraites étendu depuis la littérature des cristaux liquides. Elle permettra d’optimiser les propriétés clés de LI pour une auto-organisation et un transport rapide des ions. Une base de données de calculs DFT de cations et anions sera spécialement créée afin de sélectionner les éléments répondant au critère recherché. Ces candidats seront ensuite testés en utilisant des modèles MD à l’état de l’art. Ce projet permettra d’améliorer et d’optimiser la conductivité d’ionogels pour des applications dans le stockage de l’énergie.

ANR MI6 English

Projet MI6

Modeling Ionic-liquid Ionogel Interface Intercation In-silco

(Modélisation des Interactions aux Interfaces de liquides Ioniques Ionogels)

January 1st 2025 – July 1st 2028

IMN coordinator of the project : Yann CLAVEAU (PMN Team)

Persons of IMN involved : Jean LE BIDEAU (PR UNIV), Chris EWELS (DR CNRS), Samanvitha KUNIGAL (PhD Student)

Total financing : 266670,52€

Ionic liquids (IL) are salts with an organic cation and inorganic or organic anion that are liquid at room temperature. They are important candidates for a number of energy related applications such as electrolytes, in the frame of safer and higher storage energy density (batteries, supercapacitors). Their major drawback is their high viscosity due to the formation of aggregates, which decreases their ionic conductivity. Our group has shown that confining an IL within a mesoporous host can counterbalance the formation of aggregates and increase the ionic conductivity. However the underlying mechanisms are still not understood, and the process difficult to optimise experimentally.
These systems are very complex to simulate, and to date the literature has focussed on limited size molecular dynamics simulations of a few selected anions and cations, with no attempt to generalise property searches for desired behaviour, such as enhanced conductivity. This is in direct contrast with a parallel field - liquid crystals - where modelling has instead focussed on idealised liquid interaction between simplified abstracted forms.
The goal of MI6 is to open up a ‘rational design route’ to ionic liquid selection as well as host selection for confinement, rather than the trial-and-error approach used by the community currently.

This will be achieved using abstracted structural models extended from the liquid crystal literature, to optimise key dimensional and charge properties of confined ionic liquids for self-organisation and rapid ion transport. This will be coupled to a newly compiled database of DFT calculations of cations and anions, allowing selection of species matching the optimised criteria. These will then be tested using state-of-the-art MD calculations of confined ionic liquids. The project will allow enhancement and optimisation of the ionic conductivity of ionogels (ionic liquid @ host) for energy storage applications.