Professor Malcolm Ingram

Professor Malcolm Ingram The University of Aberdeen School of Natural & Computing Sciences Professor Malcolm Ingram Emeritus Professor

Emeritus Professor

BSc, PhD(Liv), DSc(Aberd), CChem, FRSC (Emeritus Prof, former HoD)

Professor Malcolm Ingram

Personal Details

Email: m.d.ingram@abdn.ac.uk
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Biography

  • Fellow of the Society of Glass Technology since 2000: since 1999, Editor of “Physics and Chemistry of Glasses”: European Journal of Glass Science and Technology, Part B .
     
  • Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts in 2002 and in the same year awarded a Research Prize by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation to become Project Leader within Sonderforschungsbereich 458 and Visiting Professor at the University of Münster.
     
  • Interests include electrochemical energy storage, and the historical aspects of glass science and its impact on society and the environment.

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Research Interests

Physical Chemistry of Glasses

Ion Transport Processes

Much research today is concerned with ion transport across a wide range of materials including glasses, molten salts and polymer electrolytes. Optimising ion mobilities in these materials is vital for the development of new electrochemical power sources (including advanced batteries and super-capacitors for use in electrical vehicles or laptop computers), while there is a compelling need for reducing ion mobility in glasses used as electrical insulators or indeed in the storage of nuclear wastes.

My own research is focused on identifying the microscopic mechanisms of ion transport (see the graphic) using a variety of techniques, including:

  • variable-pressure, variable temperature (VPVT) impedance spectroscopy (IS)
     
  • high-pressure differential scanning calorimetry (HPDSC)
     
  • VPVT radioactive tracer studies of cation diffusion, with Profs. K Funke and H. Mehrer, Univ. of Münster, Germany
     
  • positron annihilation lifetime spectroscopy (PALS), with Dr.A.J. Hill, CSIRO, Melbourne, Australia

Economic and environmental factors drive this research forward. These include the need to find ways of storing electricity generated by wind farms, where huge currents are involved, and to find reliable replacements for nickel-cadmium and lead-acid storage batteries, whose disposal is clearly problematic. Our strategy is to focus on basic science and to identify the barriers to ion motion in new materials, which include brittle glasses, rubbery polymers and spongy gels. We report (references 5 and 10) a new equation, EA = M.VA, which enables us to calculate the heights of the above-mentioned barriers in a wide range of materials.


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Publications

Contributions to Journals

Articles

  • Stoeva, Z., Lu, Z., Ingram, MD. & Imrie, CT. (2013). 'A new polymer electrolyte based on a discotic liquid crystal triblock copolymer'. Electrochimica Acta, vol 93, pp. 279-286.
    [Online] DOI: 10.1016/j.electacta.2013.01.060
  • Ingram, MD. & Imrie, CT. (2011). 'New insights from variable-temperature and variable-pressure studies into coupling and decoupling processes for ion transport in polymer electrolytes and glasses'. Solid State Ionics, vol 196, no. 1, pp. 9-17.
    [Online] DOI: 10.1016/j.ssi.2011.05.019
  • Imre, AW., Voss, S., Berkemeier, F., Mehrer, H., Konidakis, I. & Ingram, MD. (2006). 'Pressure dependance of the ionic conductivity of Na- and Na-Rb borate glasses'. Solid State Ionics, vol 177, pp. 963-969.
    [Online] DOI: 10.1016/j.ssi.2006.03.009
  • Ingram, MD., Pas, SJ., Cramer, C., Gao, Y. & Hill, AJ. (2005). 'Free volume anomalies in mixed-cation glasses revealed by positron annihilation lifetime spectroscopy (PALS)'. Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics, vol 7, pp. 1620-1623.
    [Online] DOI: 10.1039/b419201j
  • Ingram, MD., Wu, MH., Coats, AM., Kamitsos, EI., Varsamis, CPE., Garcia, N. & Sola, M. (2005). 'Evidence from infrared spectroscopy of structural relaxation during field assisted and chemically driven ion exchange in soda-lime-silica glasses'. Physics and Chemistry of Glasses, vol 46, no. 2, pp. 84-89.
  • Pas, SJ., Ingram, MD., Funke, K. & Hill, AJ. (2005). 'Free volume and conductivity in polymer electrolytes'. Electrochimica Acta, vol 50, pp. 3955-3962.
    [Online] DOI: 10.1016/j.electacta.2005.02.058
  • Imrie, CT., Konidakis, I. & Ingram, MD. (2004). 'What variable-pressure variable-temperature measurements are telling us about ion transport in glass'. Dalton Transactions, vol 7, pp. 3067-3070.
    [Online] DOI: 10.1039/b403427a
  • Funke, K., Ingram, MD., Banhatti, RD., Singh, P. & Pas, SJ. (2004). 'Ionic conductivity of a fragile glass-forming molten salt: Modelling it dpendence on frequency, temperature and pressure'. Z. Metallkd, no. 95, pp. 921-927.
  • Ingram, MD., Staesche, H. & Ryder, KS. (2004). ''Ladder-doped’ polypyrrole: a possible electrode material for inclusion in electrochemical supercapacitors?'. Journal of Power Sources, no. 129, pp. 107-112.
    [Online] DOI: 10.1016/j.jpowsour.2003.11.005
  • Ingram, MD., Staesche, H. & Ryder, KS. (2004). 'Activated’ polypyrrole electrodes for high-power supercapacitor applications'. Solid State Ionics, vol 169, no. 169, pp. 51-57.
    [Online] DOI: 10.1016/j.ssi.2002.12.003
  • Ingram, MD., Imrie, CT., Konidakis, I. & Voss, S. (2004). 'Significance of activation volumes for cation transport in glassy electrolytes'. Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics, vol 6, pp. 3659-3662.
    [Online] DOI: 10.1039/b314879c
  • Ingram, MD. & Roling, B. (2003). 'The concept of matrix-mediated coupling: a new interpretation of mixed-cation effects in glass'. Journal of Physics: Condensed Matter, vol 15, no. 16, pp. S1595-S1605.
    [Online] DOI: 10.1088/0953-8984/15/16/309
  • Stoeva, Z., Imrie, CT. & Ingram, MD. (2003). 'Effect of pressure on ion transport in amorphous and semi-crystalline polymer electrolytes'. Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics, vol 5, no. 5, pp. 395-399.
    [Online] DOI: 10.1039/b208552f
  • Garcia, NJ., Ingram, MD. & Bazan, JC. (2002). 'Ion transport in hydrated sodium slicates (water glasses) of varying water content'. Solid State Ionics, vol 146, pp. 113-122.
    [Online] DOI: 10.1016/S0167-2738(01)00990-0
  • Duffy, JA. & Ingram, MD. (2002). 'Band gaps and refractivity of silicates: A chemical approach to UV absorption of glass'. Comptes Rendus Chimie, vol 5, pp. 797-804.
    [Online] DOI: 10.1016/S1631-0748(02)01448-0
  • Bandaranayake, PWSK., Imrie, CT. & Ingram, MD. (2002). 'Pressure dependent conductivities and activation volumes in Li x Na (1-x) PO 3 glasses: evidence for a new matrix-mediated coupling mechanism in mixed-cation glasses?'. Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics, vol 4, pp. 3209-3213.
    [Online] DOI: 10.1039/b201215d
  • Imrie, CT. & Ingram, MD. (2001). 'Decoupled ion transport in mesomorphis polymer electrolyte glasses'. Electrochimica Acta, vol 46, pp. 1413-1417.
    [Online] DOI: 10.1016/S0013-4686(00)00734-9

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