Katherine Betts, Kushanie Heenkenda, Bryan Jacome, Sohyo Kim, Michael Tover, and Zhange Feng (all Chemistry and Biochemistry) published a study, "Refractive Laser Beam Measuring Diffusion Coefficient of Concentrated Battery Electrolytes," that offers a universal optical method to measure diffusion coefficient, a key transport property in battery electrolytes. The method uses the phenomenon of refraction, and relationship between concentration and refractive index, to track changes in concentration during the diffusion process. The published paper offers insight into the mathematical modelling of diffusion in concentrated solutions, and demonstrates the behavior of concentrated zinc sulfate as an example, through diffusion coefficient measurements, FTIR and Raman spectroscopy, QCM viscosity measurements and conductivity.
