Event
Advances in Ion Conducting Materials and Devices
Friday, September 21, 2018
10:30 a.m.-11:00 a.m.
1202 EGL - MEI2 Conference Room
Catherine Stephens
301 405 9378
csteph5@umd.edu
http://energy.umd.edu
Dr. Jason D. Nicholas
Chemical Engineering & Materials Science Dept.,
Michigan State University, East Lansing MI 48864
Abstract
Ion conducting materials enable a variety of solid state devices including Solid Oxide Fuel Cells (SOFCs), Solid Oxide Electrolysis Cells (SOECs), batteries, gas sensors, gas separation membranes, oxide memristors, environmentally-active microelectromechanical systems (MEMs), catalytic converters, electrostrictive actuators, electrochromic displays, etc. Unfortunately, the scientific community has faced difficulty in accurately characterizing oxygen transport materials, understanding the observed trends, and incorporating them into cheap, reliable, high-performance devices. This talk will highlight the Nicholas Group’s success in utilizing 1) compositionally-induced stress changes to characterize oxygen exchange materials in situ, 2) density functional theory to understand how oxygen vacancy electron disproportionation affects oxygen ion conductivity and electrostriction, 3) hierarchically-tailored microstructures to produce some of the world’s best performing sub-600o C SOFC cathodes, and 4) porous nickel interlayers to improve Ag ceramic to metal brazing. This talk will also discuss how these advances can be used in the future to realize a new generation of Ionic-Conducting Materials and Engineered Devices.
Biography
Dr. Jason D. Nicholas is an Associate Professor in the Chemical Engineering and Materials Science Department at Michigan State University (MSU). His group is focused on understanding and exploiting ionic conduction, ionic surface exchange, mechano-electro-chemical coupling, cost-effective processing methodologies, and bespoke microstructures for improved solid oxide fuel cells, batteries, sensors, and other electro-chemically active devices. He earned a B.S. in Geoscience, with Honors, from Franklin & Marshall College in 2000, a M.S. in Materials Science and Engineering from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in 2003, and a Ph.D. in Materials Science and Engineering from the University of California Berkeley in 2007. After a PostDoc position at Northwestern University, he joined the faculty at MSU in 2010. His innovative teaching and research have earned him a MSU Withrow Teaching Award and a National Science Foundation (NSF) CAREER Award. Jason has also served as the lead organizer for a NSF-sponsored “Solid Oxide Fuel Cells- Promise, Progress, and Priorities” workshop, the inaugural organizer of an annual MSU Girl Scout Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) Demo Day, and the recurring lead organizer of an Electrochemical Society Symposium on Mechano-ElectroChemical Coupling. Updates on his work can be found at https://www.egr.msu.edu/nicholasgroup/
