Voiland School of Chemical Engineering and Bioengineering Seminar
About the event
The Gene and Linda Voiland School of Chemical Engineering and Bioengineering is hosting a seminar presented by Dr. Gurpreet Singh, Associate Professor from Kansas State University.
Dr. Gurpreet Singh is Harold O. and Jane C. Massey Neff Associate Professor in the department of mechanical and nuclear engineering at Kansas State University. He received his M.S. (thesis option) and PhD degrees in Mechanical Engineering from University of Colorado at Boulder in 2006 and 2007, respectively. He works in the general area of nanotechnology with a focus on processing-structure-property characterization of 2-D materials and PDCs for applications in energy-based devices. Singh’s research on liquid phase exfoliation of 2D crystals to produce atomically thin sheets of graphene oxide, tungsten and molybdenum disulfide for rechargeable metal ion batteries has appeared in American Chemical Society and Nature Publishing Group journals. More recently, Singh has developed liquid phase pre-ceramic polymers suitable for manufacture of SiBNC and SiAlCN ceramic fibers and composites for hypersonic applications. He is the principal investigator on National Science Foundation-Partnerships for International Research and Education (NSF-PIRE) project at K-State [http://nsf-pirepdc.com/Home.html]. Singh is also the recipient of NSF CAREER Award, member of the Editorial Board of Scientific Reports journal and former Chairman of Editorial Board of the American Ceramic Society Bulletin.
Molecular Precursor Derived Ceramics and Layered Composites for Energy Storage Devices
Molecular precursor-derived ceramics or PDCs are high temperature glasses derived from pyrolysis oforganosilicon polymers. Silicon carbonitride (Si-C-N) and Silicon oxycarbide (Si-O-C) are the two most commonly studied systems in this class. Main feature of these ceramics is their unique three-phase amorphous structure that consists of nanometer size domains of SiC,Si3N4(or SiO2) and the disordered carbon phase. Studies have shown that such domains only exist in ceramics prepared via the polymer pyrolysis route. Furthermore, the size and distribution of the carbon phase in ceramic may be manipulated by modifications to molecular structure of the pre-ceramic polymer and pyrolysis environment. This allows control over the optical, electrical, electrochemical, and thermal properties of the ceramic; additional tuning in ceramic properties is possible by elemental doping and/ or chemical interfacing of pre-ceramic polymer with nano-fillers. Focus of this talk will be on our recent efforts to interface 2-D materials (graphene, transition metal dichalcogenides) with precursor-derived ceramics to produce layered composite structures. We show that layered hybrids are best suited as flexible and bendable electrodes for extreme power density/long cycle/high cycling efficiency rechargeable batteries.