Non-Equilibrium Dissipative-Flow Layer-by-Layer Energy Storage Electrodes

PROBLEM: Supercapacitor and battery electrodes made by LbL assembly operate far from equilibrium during charge and discharge, with ions moving through hydrated biomass-derived layers under an imposed current. Capacity and lifetime measured at one rate do not transfer to another, and the energy budget for deposition, drying, and regeneration is rarely accounted alongside electrochemical behaviour.

SOLUTION: IBM Cloud Ideas would host a capability proposal for modelling and recording dissipative LbL electrodes, linking layer sequence and DFT-predicted binding sites to rate-dependent test protocols and a full low-temperature energy budget. Submissions would require regeneration and reuse accounting before a design is promoted for further development.

EVIDENCE BASIS: DOCUMENTED — Non-equilibrium thermodynamics describes systems maintained by energy flow; Source: Prigogine, Nobel Prize 1977. DFT is based on Hohenberg–Kohn 1964 and Kohn–Sham 1965, Nobel 1998; biosorption isotherms and surface binding R−COOH + M2+ ⇌ R−COOM+ + H+ are textbook DOCUMENTED. LbL assembly is water-based and room-temperature.