Yang Yu is Honored With MSE Outstanding PhD Dissertation Award

Congratulations to Yang Yu, recipient of the 2016 MSE Outstanding PhD Dissertation Award for his dissertation: Surface Segregation in Strontium Doped Lanthanum Cobalt Ferrite: Effect of Composition, Strain and Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide.

Advisor: Soumendra Basu

Yang YuYang Yu’s research involves the study and understanding of the surface stability of complex oxides used as cathode materials for solid oxide fuel cells. Using several state-of-the-art x-ray diffraction and electron and atomic-force microscopy techniques, the study demonstrated that at high temperatures, the surface of these materials is unstable under operating conditions, and is susceptible to surface segregation and nanoscale precipitate formation. A predictive model relating the propensity of precipitate formation to the oxide composition, lattice strain and the gas phase composition was developed.