The Waterloo Institute for Nanotechnology (WIN) and the Department Mechanical and Mechatronic Engineering (MME) are proud to present a joint seminar by Professor Sili Deng from the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
The seminar will be on "New Roles and Tools for Combustion in Battery Research". Refreshments will be provided! Registration required.
Where:
Mike
&
Ophelia
Lazaridis
Quantum-Nano
Centre
(QNC)
2502
When:
January
27,
2023 -
2:00
PM
In-person seating is SOLD OUT! Register below to attend online:
New Roles and Tools for Combustion in Battery Research
Abstract
Combustion has played a vital role in energy conversion and can contribute to energy storage and sustainability by assuming a new role in manufacturing. For example, flame-based spray methods have great potential in manufacturing lithium-ion battery (LIB) cathode materials due to their features such as continuous, fast, and scalable operation. By reducing the cost and improving the performance of LIBs, such manufacturing methods will facilitate their applications in transportation electrification and grid energy storage. In this talk, a flame-assisted spray pyrolysis technology will be introduced together with examples on utilizing this approach to control the morphology and performance of LIB cathode materials with incredibly short synthesis time compared to the traditional methods. On the other hand, applying tools developed in other disciplines to combustion research could provide us new perspectives and enable new discoveries. I will demonstrate our recently developed Chemical Reaction Neural Network approach to identify reaction pathways and simultaneously quantify kinetic parameters from data without any prior knowledge of the chemical system. Specifically, I will discuss the challenges in developing such an approach, successful case studies in energy conversion and biochemistry, and future opportunities.
Biography
Dr. Sili Deng received her doctoral degree in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering from Princeton University. After being a postdoctoral scholar in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Stanford University, she joined the Department of Mechanical Engineering at MIT as an assistant professor in 2019. Her research focuses on energy conversion and storage, specifically, the fundamental understanding of combustion and emissions, physics-informed data-driven modeling of reacting flows, carbon-neutral energetic materials, and flame synthesis of materials for catalysis and energy storage. At MIT, Dr. Deng received the d’Arbeloff Career Development Chair in 2019 and Class of 1954 Career Development Chair in 2022. Dr. Deng also received the Bernard Lewis Fellowship from the Combustion Institute in 2016 and NSF CAREER Award in 2022.