Can you explain what sintering is, and how it relates to sustainable battery manufacturing?

“Sintering is a heat treatment process in which a  loose,  porous material is heated at a particular temperature below its melting point, allowing the material particles to rearrange themselves and coalesce during heating. I use a type of sintering called liquid phase sintering, a process that allows for fewer cracks and lower porosity in the final microstructure. This is important because  cracks or pores in solid state lithium electrolytes can be initiation points for lithium dendrites: filaments that cause battery failure through short circuits and are one of the blocks hindering the development and commercialization of solid state batteries. Understanding and limiting their growth is therefore one of the ways we can ensure manufacturing of reliable and sustainable batteries sooner rather than later.”

How does the interplay between hands-on lab work and data interpretation help you better understand the capacity of these batteries?

“In the lab, I make the solid electrolyte LLZTO pellets and measure their ionic conductivity. My data includes the density of the pellets, their x-ray diffraction graphs, and the conductivity measurements for the most promising samples. By analyzing the data from the pellets and the cells built from them, I get a sense of the performance of the pellets, and thus whether the experiment was successful. This information is what I use to either pivot in a new direction or modify my experiments to further understand the capabilities and limitations of the electrolyte.”

What is your process when it comes to designing new experiments in the lab?

“Designing new experiments is, to me, about finding the balance between methods from literature and trial and error. There’s a whole area of literature dedicated to the LLZTO synthesis and that’s where I begin. From there, I have a better sense of what has been done and I begin brainstorming with graduate students in my lab as well as Professor Sheldon. Once I have feasible and practical ideas, I create an easy-to-follow experiment that I fine-tune over time. So far, the trial part has been the hardest, because a lot of times none of my experiments are successful the first time around, but that’s something I am learning and it gives me motivation to try novel things.”

Where do you see this research taking you in the future?

“I really enjoy what I do with regards to clean and sustainable energy. I want to keep exploring materials science in relation to other energy storage devices and maybe grid-scale energy solutions. I am currently interested in nuclear fusion and plasma physics, so I think my future steps will be seeing how I can apply my knowledge and all the lessons I acquired in materials science to that particular field.”

What drew you to study at Brown, and what do you feel makes it unique?

“The biggest thing that drew me to Brown was the promise to explore. I knew I liked physics, but I was not really sure what that would lead to and how I would add value to my community and society in general. I have since realized that Brown gave me space and options to figure out exactly what that might entail. I took a variety of classes across the board and I was able to explore environmental science and materials science. I think that’s really what makes Brown unique, that as an undergrad you can carve out your own space in a way that aligns with who you are and your values.”