Archived News

• Dr. Zhao is promoted to Professor of Mechanical Engineering, congratulations to the Zhao group!
• Xiaokang successfully defended his PhD thesis on "Mechanics in organic mixed ionic-electronic conductors", congratulations to Dr. Wang!
• Sameep presented "Mechanics informed transport phenomena in energy storage and tissue engineering" and passed the prelim examination, congratulations to Sameep!
• Dr. Zhao presented an invited talk on heterogeneity and dynamics of composite electrodes at MRS. Xiaokang's paper on organic mixed conductors is accepted in JMPS, congratulations to Xiaokang!
• Congratulations to Xiaokang on receiving the prestigious R. H. Kohr Graduate Student Fellowship, and Congratulations to Nikhil on receiving the prestigious Ben M. Hillberry Graduate Scholarship! Both scholarships are selected annually among the graduate students in ME.
• Dr. Zhao visited and gave a seminar in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at UConn. Thanks Prof. Kang for the host! Xiaokang won the poster award in the Notre Dame-Purdue symposium on soft matter & polymers, Congratulations to Xiaokang! Nikhil's work on nanoindentation measurements of anisotropic mechanical properties of single crystalline NMC cathodes is accepted in EML, Congratulations to Nikhil!
• Dr. Zhao presented invited talks at the MMM conference, organic battery days meeting, and SES conference in Octorber. Jiaxiu's co-first authored paper on surface coating by mechanofusion for Ni-rich cathode is accepted in PNAS! Congratulations on the teamwork with Prof. Lin and Dr. Liu!
• Our group receives a NSF grant to work on mechanics of organic mixed conductors! We are grateful for the support!

2022

• Our paper on asynchronous-to-synchronous transition of Li reactions in solid-solution cathodes is accepted in Nano Letters! Congratulations to Nikhil and Luize for their hard work and dedication on this work!
• Our review on chemomechanics of rechargeable batteries is accepted in Chemical Reviews! Congratulations to Luize, Rong, and every group member!
• Sameep's paper on computational modeling of high-capacity composite electrodes is accepted in Journal of Applied Mechanics without revision! Congratulations to Sameep!
• Xiaokang's paper on doping kinetics of organic mixed ionic and electronic conductors is accepted in EML, congratulations to Xiaokang!
• Xiaokang receives the very competitive Outstanding Research Award from the College of Engineering. Congratulations to Xiaokang! Nikhil gave a nice presentation and passed the prelim examination. Congratulations to Nikhil!
• Our Collaborative work with Dr. Yijin Liu and Prof. Feng Lin on Dynamics of particle network in battery electrodes is accepted in Science! Congratulations to Nikhil! Read the perspective by Dr. Xiao.
• Dr. Zhao presented at the KLA Battery Symposium on operando measurement of mechanical properties of electrodes in batteries. Recording is here.
• Our Collaborative work with Dr. Yijin Liu's group on thermal annealing of lattice defects in battery materials is accepted in Nature Communications. Congratulations to Xiaomei!

2021

• Dr. Zhao is elected a Fellow of ASME, Congratulations!
• Our viewpoint article in collaboration with Prof. Lin at VT and Dr. Liu at SLAC on statistical nature of mechanical failure in batteries is accepted in ACS Energy Letters!
• In collaboration with CIE, Dr. Zhao's work on Active Learning through Flipped Classroom in Mechanical Engineering has been accepted in International Journal of STEM Education, Congratulations! Read the story.
• Rong's two papers are both among the most cited in JMPS since 2018, Congratulations to the team!
• Xianyang successfully passed his PhD thesis defense, Congratulations Dr. Wu!
• Xiaomei's paper on DFT modeling of grain boundaries and their impact on Li kinetics in NMC cathodes is accepted in JPCC. Congratulations to Xiaomei!
• Xiaokang successfully passed the prelim exam, Congratulations to Xiaokang!
• Hong's paper on molecular mechanisms of superelasticity and ferroelasticity in organic crystals is accepted in Chemistry of Materials without external reviews. After a long-time rebuttal with JACS, this work is finally appreciated. Congratulations to Hong!
• Shan's work on mechanical properties of LLZTO is accepted in Chinese Physics Letters and is chosen as Editor's Highlight. Congratulations to Shan!

2020

• Luize gave a great final defense on her thesis, Congratulations to Dr. Vasconcelos!
• Our collaborative work with Dr. Yijin Liu on Operando tailoring of defects and strains in corrugated β-Ni(OH)2 nanosheets for stable and high-rate energy storage is accepted in Advanced Materials. Congratulations to Nikhil!
• Xiaokang's paper on in-situ measurement of breathing strain and mechanical degradation of organic electrochromic polymers is accepted in ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces. Congratulations to Xiaokang!
• Hong passed her PhD thesis defense, Congratulations Dr. Sun!
• Dr. Zhao receives the 2021 James W. Dally Young Investigator Award from the Society for Experimental Mechanics, Congratulations!
• Luize's work on Li profiling using nanoindentation is accepted in JMPS without any revision! Congratulations to Luize and Rong! Our collaborative work with Dr. Yijin Liu on mutual modulation between surface chemistry and bulk microstructure of Ni-rich cathode is accepted in Nature Communications, Congratulations to Jiaxiu and co-authors! Read the story here.
• The paper on super- and ferro-elastic organic semiconductors is accepted in Angewandte Chemie, Congratulations to Hong and coauthors!
• Our collaborative paper with SLAC and VT teams on machine learning of particle-binder decohesion in batteries is accpeted in Nature Communications, Congratulations to coauthors! Read the story here. This paper is featured by Nature Communications Editors' highlights .
• Dr. Zhao gave a seminar on mechanical reliability of Li-ion batteries at SLAC's on-line Photon Science Seminar. Thanks Dr. Liu for the invitation and host!
• Hong won the Sigma Xi Research Award, well done!
• Jiaxiu passed the area exam and becomes a PhD candidate, Congratulations! Hong won the Sigma Xi Research Award, well done and congratulations!
• Pengfei's paper on computational modeling of heterogeneity in batteries is accepted in Journal of the Electrochemical Society, congratulations to Pengfei!
• Dr. Zhao visited UW and gave a seminar, Thanks Prof. Wang for the host! Dr. Zhao visited PNNL and gave a seminar, Thanks Dr. Lv and Dr. Xiao for the host!
• Dr. Zhao receives the NSF CAREER award, Congratulations! We are grateful for the NSF support!
• Sameep Shah joins us as a PhD student, welcome aboard! Fei's paper is accepted in International Journal of Plasticity, congratulations to Fei and coauthors!
• Xiaokang's paper on "Mechanical Breathing in Organic Electrochromics" is accepted in Nature Communications, Congratulations to Xiaokang and coauthors! Read the story here.
• Dr. Zhao is promoted to associate professor of mechanical engineering with tenure, Congratulations!

2019

• Dr. Zhao receives the 2019 EnSM Young Scientist Award. The award is to recognize the contribution of our group work to the electro-chemo-mechanics in energy storage materials, Congratulations!
• Rong's paper on structural disintegration of NMC cathode is among the highly cited article of Experimental Mechanics. This is the third paper of Rong and Luize listed among the most/highly cited articles of the journal, well done!
• Jiaxiu joins us as a PhD student, Dongliang joins us as a master student, welcome! Nikhil passed the area exam and becomes a PhD candidate, Congratulations!
• Luize receives the prestigious Perry Teaching Fellowship and will be an instructor of Statics, Congratulations to Luize! Our collaborative papers are published in Energy Storage Materials, Materials Today Nano, Nature Communications, Congratulations to all authors!
• Our AEM paper and JMPS paper are highlighted at Purdue News, check out the article on "Most detailed X-ray image of batteries yet to reveal why they still aren’t good enough". Reports from SSRL, VT, and ESRF are online too!
• Rong's paper on heterogeneous damage in electrodes is accepted in JMPS, Congratulations to Rong and our collaborators! Dr. Zhao gave a seminar in Princeton Institute for the Science and Technology of Materials, Thanks Prof. Arnold for the host and invitation! Marcus and Rebecca join us as veteran/cadet interns for summer, welcome! Luize receives the Best Paper Award from over 80 student abstracts in the 235th ECS meeting in Dallas, Congratulations to Luize!
• Dr. Zhao gave a seminar in the department of mechanical engineering at University of Michigan, Thanks Prof. Lu for the invitation and host! Dr. Zhao is selected to receive the Summer Faculty Fellowship in Europe - a great opportunity to bridge relationships with European partners. Dr. Zhao visited MSE at Boise State University and gave an invited talk for the IEEE WMED, Thanks Prof. Xiong for the host and invitation! Our team work with Dr. Liu and Prof. Lin on heterogeneous degradation in batteries is accepted in Advanced Energy Materials, Congratulations to Rong and the team! Two of our papers are among the most cited articles of EML, well done!
• Our collaborative papers are accepted in Advanced Functional Materials and Joule, Congratulations to the team! Nikhil receives the Estus H. and Vashti L. Magoon Award for Excellence in Teaching from the College of Engineering, Congratulations to Nikhil! Dr. Zhao visited UCSD MAE and gave a seminar, Thanks Prof. Cai for the host!
• Hong made a great presentation and passed the prelim exam. Congratulations to Hong! Xianyang passes the area exams and becomes a PhD candidate, Congratulations to Xianyang!
• Shan Hu joins us as a visiting scholar/postdoc, Sameep Shah joins us as a thesis master, welcome the new forces! Dr. Zhao gave a seminar at GIT, Thanks Prof. McDowell for the invitation and host.