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MIT Department of Materials Science and Engineering
MIT Department of Materials Science and Engineering

Energy and the Environment

Semiconductors

New semi-conducting materials for building more efficient solar cells

Synthesis and Processing

Emissions-free cement and building materials made from industrial waste

Synthesis and Processing

Grid-powering batteries that can store renewable energy

New semi-conducting materials for building more efficient solar cells

Emissions-free cement and building materials made from industrial waste

Grid-powering batteries that can store renewable energy

Building a Greener World

Many of the grand climate and sustainability challenges are deeply dependent on materials—and DMSE researchers are committed to facing such challenges with groundbreaking research. New grid-scale batteries developed in DMSE, for example, can store solar or wind energy when it’s cloudy and there’s not a breeze in the air. And a newly discovered family of semiconductors could make solar cells more efficient. DMSE researchers are also working on cleaning up the production of cement—one of the world’s major sources of greenhouse gas emissions—and turning the industrial waste generated in manufacturing into materials that can be used to construct new buildings.

DMSE researchers have developed a way to produce cement that could eliminate greenhouse gas emissions.

8
percentage of carbon emissions coming from cement production

Sustainable Materials Innovation

DMSE researchers are tackling climate change using the tools of their trade. They’re using metals and ceramics to build better, safer battery systems and fuel cells. They’re tapping other materials such as graphene, a semi-metal, for water filtration and chemical separation. And they’re using semiconductors for power conversion and transmitting power to the grid.

There’s more than one way to do sustainability research. DMSE researchers look to computation and design to develop analytical models for studying the environmental impact of materials, synthesis and processing for new materials used energy storage, and device fabrication for more eco-friendly microchips.

Related Materials and Research Types

Research Types

Characterization
Computation and Design
Device Fabrication
Synthesis and Processing

Materials

Archaeological Materials
Ceramics
Metals
Semiconductors
Soft Matter

Impact Stories

Shrinking manufacturing’s carbon footprint MIT startup Via Separations has devised a way to reduce the amount of energy in a key manufacturing process, resulting in lower cost and lower carbon emissions.
Making ultrastrong, ultralight material for cars on the cheap DMSE researchers have devised a way to easily make carbon fibers from refinery byproducts into materials for cars or aircraft.

Related Faculty and Researchers

Key Publications

First-order amorphous-to-amorphous phase transitions during lithiation of silicon thin films

Studied the phase transitions that occur when lithium ions are introduced into silicon thin films (such “lithiation” controls the performance of silicon-based energy storage materials).

Lithiation-based phase transformations in silicon allow high levels of energy storage, but they can also cause degradation and failure of batteries. Studying how these changes occur is important to prevent failure and improve reliability and performance.

Reliable high-performance thin film batteries can be used in very small and inexpensive self-powered sensors for applications that range from monitoring human health to monitoring the health of the planet.

3D printed structures for modeling the Young’s modulus of bamboo parenchyma

Devised an alternative approach to test the mechanical properties of the various tissues in bamboo. The new method involves enlarging the tissues’ microstructure into 3-D printed models so tests can be conducted more effectively.

To model bamboo, we needed to know if its spongy parenchyma tissue behaves like a honeycomb or a foam, as their properties depend on density in different ways. Since it’s difficult to cut out samples of parenchyma tissue, we 3-D printed larger-size replica structures of different densities and mechanically tested those instead.

Because bamboo is lightweight and sustainable, there’s growing interest in its use in construction. Understanding the mechanical properties of various kinds of bamboo is key in developing safe and reliable products.

Reactivation of chromia poisoned oxygen exchange kinetics in mixed conducting solid oxide fuel cell electrodes by serial infiltration of lithia

Extended the commercial viability of fuel cells and improved original performance despite long-term degradation of the metal oxide components. We recovered poisoned metal oxide surfaces by systematically controlling their acidity.

Traditional approaches to fuel cell life focus on limiting exposure to degradation agents. We offer an effective alternative that breathes new life into cells that might otherwise be discarded for good. Extending the lifetime of solid oxide fuel cells lowers the effective cost of conversion of hydrogen or other chemical fuels to electricity. It thereby facilitates power generation needed for a clean-energy future.

Extending the lifetime of solid oxide fuel cells lowers the effective cost of conversion of hydrogen or other chemical fuels to electricity. It thereby facilitates power generation needed for a clean-energy future.