research interests

Professor Sadoway's research seeks to establish the scientific underpinnings for technologies that make efficient use of energy and natural resources in an environmentally sound manner. This spans engineering applications and the supportive fundamental science. The overarching theme of his work is electrochemistry in nonaqueous media. (Professor Sadoway's curriculum vitae)

Specific topics in applied research are the following: environmentally sound electrochemical extraction and recycling of metals, lithium solid-polymer-electrolyte batteries for portable power, high-amperage energy storage devices for stationary applications, advanced materials for use as electrodes in fused-salt electrolysis cells and batteries, electrochemical sensors, electrochemical synthesis of compound semiconductors, electrochemical synthesis of diamond coatings.

The related fundamental research is the physical chemistry and electrochemistry of molten salts (including molten oxides), cryogenic electrolytes, and solid polymer electrolytes.

recent presentations

• MIT’s 3.091 and NSDL Materials Digital Library: Investigating the Role of Digital Libraries in Freshmen Introductory Science Courses with No Lab Component,
  Laura M. Bartolo and Donald R. Sadoway
  (presented at the American Physical Society Meeting, Los Angeles, March 2005)

• Titanium Extraction by Molten Oxide Electrolysis,
  Naomi A. Fried and Donald R. Sadoway
  (presented at TMS Annual Meeting, Charlotte, March, 2004)

• Towards Carbon-free Metals Production by Molten Oxide Electrolysis,
  Deepak Khetpal, Andrew Ducret and Donald R. Sadoway
  (presented at TMS Annual Meeting, Charlotte, March, 2004)

• Towards a New Undergraduate Curriculum in Materials Science & Engineering,
  Caroline A. Ross, Samuel M. Allen, Subra Suresh, and Donald R. Sadoway
  (presented at TMS Annual Meeting, Charlotte, March, 2004)

• Block Copolymer Electrolytes for High-performance, Solid-state Lithium Batteries, Donald R. Sadoway, Patrick E. Trapa, Biying Huang, Sang-Woog Ryu, and Anne M. Mayes
  (presented at the 11th International Meeting on Lithium Batteries, Monterey, June, 2002)

• Electrical Conductivity and Transference Number Measurements of FeO - CaO - MgO - SiO2 Melts, Andrew Ducret, Deepak Khetpal, and Donald R. Sadoway
  (presented at the Electrochemical Society Meeting, Philadelphia, May 2002)

• Towards Elimination of the Anode Effect and Perfluorocarbon Emissions from Hall-Heroult Cells, Hongmin Zhu and Donald R. Sadoway
  (presented at the Electrochemical Society Meeting, Philadelphia, May 2002)

 

recent publication J.L. Lutkenhaus, E.A.. Olivetti, E.A. Verploegen, B.M. Cord, D.R. Sadoway, and P.T. Hammond, "Anisotropic Structure and Transport in Self-Assembled Layered Polymer-Clay Nanocomposites," Langmuir, 23 (16), 8515-8521 (2007).