MSE Colloquium: Dr. Meilin Liu, Toward a New Generation of Intermediate-Temperature Energy Storage and Conversion Systems

Professor, Assoc. Chair of MSE, Co-Director of the Center for Innovative Fuel Cell and Battery Technologies, Georgia Institute of Technology

All dates for this event occur in the past.

264 MacQuigg Labs
105 W. Woodruff Ave.
Columbus, OH 43210
United States

Abstract 

Solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) have potential to be the cleanest and most efficient option for direct conversion to electricity and heat of a wide variety of fuels, from hydrogen to hydrocarbons, coal gas, and bio-derived fuels. On the other hand, solid oxide electrolytic cells (SOEC) are very efficient for low-cost production of hydrogen from splitting water. Thus, the combination of an SOFC and an SOEC, or a regenerative fuel cell, is ideally suited for efficient utilization of renewable energy or for large-scale energy storage and conversion. However, the commercialization of these systems hinges on rational design of novel materials of exceptional functionalities at lower temperatures to dramatically reduce the cost while enhancing performance and durability.  To accomplish this goal, it is imperative to gain a fundamental understanding of the mechanisms of charge and mass transport along surfaces, across interfaces, and through porous electrodes in fuel cell systems. Further, new protocols must be developed to control materials structure, composition, and morphology over multiple length scales, thus producing nano-porous materials with more accessible surfaces of much higher functionalities and with shorter diffusion distances for greatly enhanced rate capabilities. Recently, we have fabricated and tested an electrode architecture derived from nanofibers of active cathode materials with enhanced electrochemical performance, multifunctional anodes with oriented porosity, nanostructured electrolyte membranes with high ionic conductivity, and thin-film samples of proton and oxygen ion conducting electrolytes to study nano-ionic effects at heterogeneous interfaces. This presentation will highlight the critical scientific challenges facing the development of a new generation of regenerative fuel cells, the latest developments in modeling, simulation, and in situ characterization techniques for unraveling charge and mass transport mechanisms, and the outlook for future-generation energy storage systems that exploit nano-scale materials of significantly improved performance.

Bio 

 

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Dr. Meilin Liu

Dr. Meilin Liu is the B. Mifflin Hood Chair Professor, Regents' Professor, and Associate Chair of the School of Materials Science and Engineering and Co-Director of the Center for Innovative Fuel Cell and Battery Technologies at Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia. He received his MS and PhD from University of California at Berkeley. His research interests include design, fabrication, in situ/operando characterization, and modeling of membranes, thin films, coatings, porous electrodes, and devices for electrochemical energy storage and conversion, aiming at achieving rational design of novel materials and structures with unique functionalities. He has supervised 32 postdoctoral fellows, 38 PhD students, 25 joint PhD students, 13 MS students, and 28 visiting scholars. Dr. Liu holds 27 U.S. patents, co-organized 11 international symposia or workshops, co-edited 7 proceedings volumes, delivered ~180 invited lectures around the world, and  published ~430 refereed articles. His publications have been cited over 32,000 times in Google Scholar with an h-index of 94.  Dr. Liu is a fellow of the American Ceramic Society (ACerS) and the Electrochemical Society (ECS). He is the winner of many professional awards, including the Charles Hatchett Award (UK IM3, 2018), HTM Outstanding Achievement Award (ECS, 2018), Kolon Faculty Fellow (2017), Outstanding Faculty Research Author Award (Georgia Tech, 2013 and 1997), Ross Coffin Purdy Award (ACerS, 2010), Outstanding Achievement in Research Program Development Award (Georgia Tech, 2003), Sustained Research Award (Sigma Xi, 2003), and NSF Young Investigator Award (NSF, 1993).