PURDUE
U N I V E R S I T Y
MSE SEMINAR
Prof. W. H. Katie Zhong
Westinghouse Distinguished Professor
School of Mechanical and Materials Engineering
Washington State University
“Several Industry Applicable Nanotechnologies and Gum-like Conductors for Advanced Batteries”
Abstract
To scale-up many promising lab-scale “nanotechnologies”, one of the big limitations is related to quality
assessment and control. In this talk, several industry applicable nanotechnolgies investigated in Dr. Zhong’s
group will be introduced: (1) a bio-approach for nanofiller treatment; (2) viable nanodispersion approaches for
manufacturing stable and uniform quality and controllable nanocomposites; (3) quantitative assessment tool set
including industry friendly macro-dispersion evaluation method, a NDA method, and a damage detection
approach. In addition, Dr. Zhong will also introduce her newly developed Interfacial Energy Materials for
batteries, including adhesive gummy electrolyte and conductive gummy binder. The gummy electrolyte
possesses high ionic conductivity of liquid level, good mechanical properties of solid level, and excellent
contact/adhesion with electrodes, as well as special thermal protection design for promoting safety of lithiumion batteries. The gummy binder is also specially designed for making high performance electrodes of next
generation batteries, such as Li-S, as it doesn’t have high adhesion property required as a binder of electrodes,
but also possesses high ionic and electronic conductivities that can contribute the performance of the electrodes
and batteries directly. The novel gummy conductors will have great potential for producing flexible batteries
and high performance batteries EV with high safety requirements.
Bio
Dr. Zhong initiated her academic career in 1994 the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at Beijing
University of Aeronautics and Astronautics (BUAA), China, where she received her PhD. In 1999, Dr. Zhong was
promoted to full professor, becoming the youngest full professor at BUAA, and one of the youngest full professors
in China. From 2002 to 2003, Dr. Zhong worked as a visiting scientist at Vanderbilt University. She started her
associate professorship at North Dakota State University in 2003. In 2007, she joined Washington State University
(WSU), in which she is currently an endowed chair professor. Dr. Zhong has served as a consultant, collaborative
researcher and educator for the Boeing Company in the area of nanotechnology since 2006. Dr. Zhong has received
numerous awards/honors including the SPE/Dow Chemical® Composites Educator of the Year, has been selected
as one of the 15 World’s Best Scholars by the University of British Columbia in Canada, and in addition, Dr. Zhong
was awarded the Excellent Academic Advisor at WSU in 2013, based on the success of her graduated outstanding
PhD students who have received numerous global honors, including the prestigious Boeing FlightGlobal
Award/Boeing Engineering Student of the Year, and the Worldwide Top 50 PhD/post-docs by MRS. Dr. Zhong has
conducted many research projects on nanocomposites, energy storage materials, bio-materials and nanomanufacturing technology. Dr. Zhong has more than 260 publications, including over 161 peer-reviewed journal
papers, 1 book, 4 book chapters, over 90 conference papers and a number of patents.
Date: Monday, February 16, 2015
Time: 1 0:30-11:30 am
Location: ARMS B071