MateriAlZ Seminar: Maren Lepple
Friday, September 23, 2022
10:50 a.m., MST
Maren Lepple
Professor of Inorganic Chemistry
Justus Liebig University, Giessen, Germany
"Ceramics for Energy Conversion and Storage – Material Development Based on Thermodynamic Considerations"
Zoom link | Passcode: 10810
MateriAlZ Seminar website | YouTube | Twitter
Abstract
Thanks to their versatile and outstanding properties, ceramics are an integral part of many energy-related applications, e.g., as thermal insulation and protective layers in corrosive atmospheres at high temperatures in gas turbines, as electrode materials and solid electrolytes in batteries as well as fuel cells or as thermoelectrics. Therefore, in view of climate change, ceramic materials play an important role in the required energy and process transition. New material systems and compositions with improved properties are needed to increase the performance and efficiency of processes and explore new applications. In terms of application and material development, a detailed understanding of the material system, including phase stability and phase equilibria, as well as knowledge of the energies and driving forces for the formation of stable and metastable phases, is essential. The thermodynamic approach of the CALPHAD method (CALculation of PHAse Diagrams, computer coupling of phase diagrams and thermochemistry) provides a solid foundation in the development and investigation of new ceramics (and materials in general) and is a powerful development tool in materials (process) engineering. Three different approaches to knowledge-based material development are discussed based on thermal barrier coatings for gas turbines. The focus is on the various contributions of the CALPHAD method to material development.
Bio
Maren Lepple joined the Justus Liebig University (JLU) in Giessen, Germany as a tenure track professor of Inorganic Chemistry with the focus on materials and energy in June 2022. Prior to JLU she led research projects on high temperature materials as a postdoc at the Technical University Darmstadt and as a junior group leader at the DECHEMA Research Institute in Frankfurt. She earned her doctorate at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology. Since her studies, Dr. Lepple has been enthusiastic about the development of new ceramic materials for energy-related applications and found thermodynamics useful for materials development. During her academic career she became an expert in the field of thermal analysis, calorimetry and thermodynamic modeling using the CALPHAD method. She spent several research periods at the University of California, Santa Barbara with Prof. C. G. Levi and University of California, Davis with Prof. A. Navrotsky (now at ASU).