small talks: talks by students, for students <style type="text/css">  </style> </head> <body> <center>  <a href="http://dmse.mit.edu/"><img border=0 src="course3.jpg"></a> <a href="http://web.mit.edu/gso/faq/studentlifefee.html"><img border=0 src="gso.jpg"></a>  <a href="index.shtml"><b><font size=7><font color=black>small</font>TALKS</font><b></a> <a href="http://mtlweb.mit.edu/researchgroups/mems/"><img border=0 src="memsatmit.jpg"></a> <a href="http://rleweb.mit.edu/"><img border=0 src="rle.jpg"></a> <br> ♦ <i>talks by students, for students</i> ♦<br> Wednesdays, 4pm, 6-104<br> <a href="sponsors.shtml">sponsors</a><br> <a href="about.shtml">about small talks</a> </center> <p> 11.15.2006: Scott Litzelman (DMSE)<br> <i>Nano-ionics: small-scale ionic interfaces and their relevance to advanced energy technologies</i><br> <h4>Abstract:</h4> Ionic solids are key components of alternative energy technologies such as solid oxide fuel cells and batteries, but the development of these technologies is hindered in part by materials limitations. While ionic solids are macroscopically charge-neutral, interfaces such as grain boundaries, surfaces, and film/substrate interfaces lead to local space charge regions and spatially-varying properties. In nanostructured electroceramic materials, these interfacial effects play an increasingly important role and can lead to drastic changes in the transport properties of the material. In this talk, the emerging field of nano-ionics will be presented and potential advances in energy-related technologies will be discussed.