CAREER: Tuning Interface Atomic Structure and Composition for Fast Ion Conduction

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NON-TECHNICAL DESCRIPTION: Ceramic materials are key components in current and future energy conversion and storage technologies, such as fuel cells, batteries, and devices used to produce hydrogen gas and process carbon dioxide. Improving these technologies relies on understanding and enhancing the ionic conductivity of crucial ceramic materials. New knowledge produced by this research will yield design rules for high-performance engineering materials, and enable unprecedented ceramics for energy conversion, energy storage, and chemical conversion applications. This project combines state-of-the-art nanomaterials fabrication methods, and advanced electron microscopy characterization to explain the behavior of ceramic materials at the atomic level. The research is integrated into a novel outreach and education activity which engages high school students and teachers in activities rich in science and technology, and designed to develop a pipeline of diverse students into science and engineering fields. The new “Science, Technology and Art of Imaging and Recording” (STAIR) outreach activity is bringing high school teachers and students from underrepresented groups in local low-income areas to learn about imaging physics and technology while making art. STAIR leverages general knowledge to engage and educate about imaging hardware (cameras, microscopes), physics (optics, colors, radiation), art (photography, videography), and technology (virtual reality, computer vision). Materials science graduate students funded by this project are trained in advanced nanomaterials synthesis and characterization, preparing them for employment in manufacturing, and research and development in clean energy and semiconductors.TECHNICAL DETAILS: This research elucidates the links between atomic structure, chemical composition, and oxygen anion conductivity across material defects in ion-conducting ceramic materials. Two-dimensional defects (interfaces) are investigated in model multilayer thin films and bicrystals synthesized by state-of-the-art nanofabrication techniques based on pulsed laser deposition. Such interfaces are key to the electrical and electrochemical performance of a wide variety of engineering materials, not just electroceramics. A combination of experiments using advanced transmission electron microscopy (TEM) imaging and spectroscopy techniques capable of directly imaging and identifying atoms, and simulations of anion diffusivity, answer fundamental questions surrounding the behavior of mobile ions near interfaces. This research is attempting to advance fundamental theories of electrical conductivity in ionically-conducting ceramics, uncover atomic-level mechanisms of mass transport across interfaces, and ultimately explain how to best design materials for optimal electrical performance.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.