Rajendra K. BORDIA，Clemson University，USA

Excellent in ceramics for extreme environment and energy conservation & storage

Academician of the World Academy of Ceramics

Title of the Talk: Analysis and Simulation Guided Processing and Properties of Anisotropic Hierarchical Porous Ceramics for Energy Conversion and Storage

E-mail: rbordia@clemson.edu

Homepage: https://www.clemson.edu/cecas/departments/mse/people/faculty/bordia.html

Research Areas

Ceramics for Extreme Environment

Ceramics for Energy Conservation and Storage
Nano and Micro Structure Control in Ceramics
Multilayered Ceramics and Ceramic Coatings
Porous Ceramics

Ceramic Matrix Composites

Molecular Precursor Derived Ceramics

Short Bio

Bordia is the George J. Bishop, III Professor of Materials Science and Engineering at Clemson University in Clemson, SC, USA.  He is also the Scientific Director of Materials Assembly and Design Excellence in South Carolina (MADE in SC) – an NSF funded EPSCoR Track I Research Infrastructure Improvement Award. From 2013 to February 2019, he was the Chair of his Department.  He was a faculty member at the University of Washington (1991-2013) and a Research Scientist in DuPont Co. (1986 to 1991). He received his B.Tech from IIT, Kanpur, India (1979), and his M.S. (1981) and Ph.D. (1986) from Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA. 

His research is at the intersection of materials and mechanics and is focused on fundamental and applied studies in the processing and properties of complex material systems.  The current focus is on ceramics with designed microstructures for energy conversion and storage technologies with low negative environmental impact; for clean air and water; and for medical applications.  He has authored or co-authored over 170 peer-reviewed technical publications. 

He was elected Fellow of the American Ceramic Society (2002); Fellow of the Indian Institute of Metals (2010); Academician in the World Academy of Ceramics (2012); and Fellow of the International Society for Energy, Environment and Sustainability (2020).  Other significant awards include: Humboldt Research award from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, Germany (2007); and the Outstanding Educator Award of the American Ceramic Society (2012).He is an Associate Editor of the Journal of the American Ceramic Society (1988-Present); and Editor-in-Chief of Ceramics International (2009 – Present). He has been elected to serve as the President of the American Ceramic Society during the 2023-2024 year. 

Abstract body：

Our current research is focused on developing processing strategies to control the microstructure of ceramics at different length scales. One of the focal areas porous ceramics produced by controlled sintering of powder compacts. Many of the applications of porous ceramics demand optimization of a multitude of properties some of which have conflicting requirements on the microstructure.  Materials with designed anisotropic and/or hierarchical microstructures have the potential to optimally address the requirements.

We will first present a broad overview of the use of porous ceramics in advanced energy conversion and storage applications including the property requirements.  Next, we will present results from our collaborative projects focused on microstructural control in hierarchical and/or anisotropic porous ceramics. Porous ceramics are used in a broad range of technologies of interest to energy conversion and storage including electrochemical applications like electrodes for solid oxide fuel cells, high temperature insulators, thermal energy storage and electrochemical energy storage.  In these applications, a multitude of properties are of interest.  For specific applications, a subset of mechanical, thermal, electrical and ionic conductivity, gas diffusion and chemical reactivity need to be optimized. In this presentation, results will be presented on the processing approaches to make these designed microstructures, the quantification of the 3D microstructure at different length scales and simulations to design optimal microstructures for specific applications including electrodes for solid oxide fuel cells and electrolysis cells, and Li-ion batteries.