People
Shalini Jayaraman Rukmani
Shalini is from Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. She graduated from the National Institute of Technology, Trichy, India with a B.Tech degree in Metallurgical and Materials Engineering in August 2014. As an undergraduate student, she worked on characterization of MAX phase compound Ti3SiC2 synthesized by Spark Plasma Sintering using X-Ray Diffraction and Microscopy for aerospace applications and Al-Si alloy foams to develop lightweight material for automobile bodies under supervision of Dr. S. Kumaran. In her junior year, she performed a summer internship using Monte Carlo simulations for studying phase separation in binary alloys, and studied ferromagnetic behavior using a two dimensional Ising model and single phase grain growth using Q-state Potts Model in Professor T.A. Abinandanan's research group at the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India.
She joined the Colina group in fall 2014. She is currently working on Ionomers of Intrinsic Microporosity (IonomIMs) which consist of Polymers of Intrinsic Microporosity (PIMs) with ionic functional groups (such as carboxylate, sulfate) covalently attached to the polymer backbone, and extra framework counter ions (such as Na+, K+). The effect of adding these ions at different concentrations on the gas adsorption potential are studied using Molecular Dynamics and Monte Carlo simulations. The goal of the project is to increase CO2 adsorption and mixed gas separation performance (CO2/N2, CO2/CH4) under industrially relevant conditions, by developing new materials for energy efficient gas storage and separation applications.
