Interfacial phenomena is a cross-cutting theme in our research. The interfaces between different materials and phases in energy systems is central to the performance and degradation of advanced energy technologies including batteries, fuel cells, carbon capture, fuel upgrading and more. Our research aims to understand the chemical-physical processes at interfaces such as mass and charge transport, surface reactions, and field effects to understand the fundamental materials behavior and use that understanding to design better technologies.

Our work in this area has been funded by NSF ( 2034154, 1932922) and DOE (DEEE0007332) in the areas of advanced batteries, fuel upgrading, and cavitation in fuel injectors.

Relevant Publications

• X. Shan, M. Morey, Z. Li, S. Zhao, S. Song, Z. Xiao, H. Feng, S. Gao, G. Li, A. Sokolov, E.M. Ryan, K. Xu, M. Tian, Y. He, H. Yang, P. Cao. A Polymer Electrolyte with High Cationic Transport Number for Safe and Stable Solid Li-Metal Batteries, ACS Energy Letters.
• A. Gupta, G. McDonough, J. Moreira, J. Lau, V. Doheny, E.M. Ryan, S. Grace, G. Holt. Passive cavitation imaging in fuel injector nozzles, The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America.
• A. Hubble, E.M. Ryan, J. Goldfrab. Enhancing pyrolysis gas and bio-oil formation through transition metals as in situ catalysts, Fuel.
• M. Morey, J. Loftus, A. Cannon, E. Ryan. Interfacial studies on the effects of patterned anodes for guided lithium deposition in lithium metal batteries, The Journal of Chemical Physics.
• S. Gao, A. Cannon, F. Sun, Y. Pan, D. Yang, S. Ge, N. Liu, A. P. Sokolov, E.M. Ryan, H. Yang, and P. Cao. Glass-fiber-reinforced polymeric film as an efficient protecting layer for stable Li metal electrodes, Cell Reports Physical Science.
• S. Rajendran, Z. Tang, A. George, A. Cannon , C. Neumann, A. Sawas, E. M. Ryan, A. Turchanin, L.M. Reddy Arava. Inhibition of Lithium Dendrite Formation in Lithium Metal Batteries via Regulated Cation Transport through Ultrathin Sub-Nanometer Porous Carbon Nanomembranes, Advanced Energy Materials.
• A. Cannon, E.M. Ryan. Characterizing the Microstructure of Separators in Lithium Batteries and Their Effects on Dendritic Growth. ACS Applied Energy Materials.
• K. Dong, Y. Xu, J. Tan, M. Osenberg, C. Yang F. Sun, Z. Kochovski, D. T. Pham, S. Mei, A. Hilger, E.M. Ryan, Y. Lu, J. Banhart, I. Manke. Unravelling the Mechanism of Lithium Nucleation and Growth and the Interaction with the Solid Electrolyte Interface, ACS Energy Letters.
• D. Gopalakrishnan, S. Alkatie, A. Cannon, S. Rajendran, N.K. Thangavel, N. Bhagirath, E.M. Ryan, L.M. Reddy Arava. Anisotropic mass transport using ionic liquid crystalline electrolytes to suppress lithium dendrite growth. Sustainable Energy and Fuels.
• D. Villafranco, A. Gupta, E.M. Ryan, R.G. Holt, S. Grace. An Assessment of Homogeneous Mixture Method Cavitation Models in Predicting Cavitation in Nozzle Flow, Journal of Fluids Engineering, 143, 1
• E. Arai, A. Tartakovsky, R.G. Holt, S. Grace, E.M. Ryan. Comparison of Surface Tension Generation Methods in Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics for Dynamic Systems, Computer and Fluids, 203, 5.
• E. Arai, D. Villafranco, S. Grace, E.M. Ryan. Simulating Bubble Dynamics in a Buoyant System, International Journal for Numerical Methods in Fluids, 93, 3, 169-188.
• G. McDonough, J. Moreira, A. Gupta, E.M. Ryan, S. Grace, G. Holt. The effect of tapered entrance in nozzle flow cavitation. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America.
• K. R. Dupre, A. Vyas, J.L. Goldfard, E.M. Ryan Investigation of Computational Upscaling of Adsorption of SO2 and CO2 in Fixed Bed Columns. Adsorption, 25, 4: 773-782.
• E.M. Ryan, P. Mukherjee. Mesoscale Modeling in Electrochemical Devices - A Critical Perspective. Progress in Energy and Combustion Science, 71, 118-142.
• L. Watson, H. Do, S. Grace, E.M. Ryan, G. Holt. Void fraction inference in cavitating fuel injector flows. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America.
• J. Tan, E.M. Ryan. Structured Electrolytes to Suppress Dendrite Growth in High Energy Density Batteries. International Journal of Energy Research.
• J. Tan, A. Tartakovsky, E.M. Ryan. Computational study of electro-convection effects on dendrite growth in batteries. Journal of Power Sources.
• J. Tan, A. Tartakovsky, K. Ferris, E.M. Ryan. Investigating the effects of anisotropic mass transport on dendrite growth in high energy density lithium batteries. Journal of The Electrochemical Society.
• E.M. Ryan, W. Xu, X. Sun, and M.A. Khaleel (2012). A damage model for degradation in the electrodes of solid oxide fuel cells: Modeling the effects of sulfur and antimony in the anode, Journal of Power Sources, 210: 233-242.