Wachsman, Eric
Director, Maryland Energy Innovation Institute
William L. Crentz Centennial Chair in Energy Research
Distinguished University Professor
National Academy of Inventors
Fellow, American Ceramic Society
Fellow, Electrochemical Society
Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
Maryland Energy Innovation Institute
EDUCATION
Ph.D., Stanford University, 1990
BACKGROUND
Dr. Eric D Wachsman, an expert on solid state batteries and solid oxide fuel cells, is the Director of the Maryland Energy Innovation Institute (MEI2), and the William L. Crentz Centennial Chair in Energy Research with appointments in both the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, and the Department of Chemical Engineering at the University of Maryland. He received his Ph.D. in Materials Science & Engineering from Stanford University, and his B.S. in Chemical Engineering from the University of California at Berkeley.
Before joining the University of Maryland, he spearheaded the creation of the Florida Institute on Sustainable Energy at the University of Florida, and served as a senior scientist at SRI International.
His research is focused on solid ion-conducting materials and electrocatalysts, including the development of solid state batteries, solid oxide fuel cells and electrolysis cells, ion-transport membranes, and solid state gas sensors, with over 270 publications and 35 patents/patent applications. To date, three companies have been founded based on these technologies.
He has contributed to the next generation of electrochemists having graduated 34 PhD and 30 MS students, supervised 38 postdocs and research scientists, and mentored several junior faculty. Of these, three have gone on to receive ECS awards. His involvement with students includes founding and serving as Faculty Advisor for ECS student chapters at both the University of Florida and the University of Maryland, with the Maryland chapter winning Outstanding ECS Student Chapter Awards in 2013 and 2017, and ECS Student Chapter of Excellence in 2014, 2015, and 2016.
Dr. Wachsman is a frequent invited panelist on fuel cell and hydrogen energy research, ranging from the US Department of Energy “Fuel Cell Report to Congress” and “Basic Research Needs Related to High Temperature Electrochemical Devices for Hydrogen Production, Storage and Use,” to the National Science Foundation “Workshop on Fundamental Research Needs in Ceramics,” NATO “Mixed Ionic-Electronic Conducting (MIEC) Perovskites for Advanced Energy Systems,” and the National Academies “Global Dialogues on Emerging Science and Technologies.” He also serves on numerous boards and was appointed by the Governor to the Board of Directors of the Maryland Clean Energy Center. He is a Fellow of The Electrochemical Society (2008) and the American Ceramic Society (2012), and an elected member of the World Academy of Ceramics (2017).
HONORS AND AWARDS
- Distinguished University Profess, 2021
- World Academy of Ceramics, 2017
- Carl Wagner Memorial Award, The Electrochemical Society, 2017
- Sir William Grove Award, International Association for Hydrogen Energy, 2014
- Pfeil Award, The Institute of Materials, Minerals, and Mining, 2014
- Outstanding Invention of 2013, University of Maryland, Office of Technology Licensing
- Fuel Cell Seminar & Exposition Award, 2012
- HTM Outstanding Achievement Award, The Electrochemical Society, 2012
- Fellow of The American Ceramic Society, 2012
- Fellow of The Electrochemical Society, 2008
- Rhines Chair Professor of Materials Science & Engineering, 2008-2009
- University of Florida Research Foundation Professor, 2005-2008
- Materials Science & Engineering Faculty Excellence Award, 2007-2008
- Materials Research Society, Top 5 Hot Talks/Cool Papers, Spring 2007 Meeting
- University of Florida Faculty Achievement, 2007
- NASA Johnson Space Center Achievement Award, 2007
- Materials Science & Engineering Faculty Excellence Award, 2006-2007
- Materials Science & Engineering Faculty Excellence Award, 2005-2006
- Materials Science & Engineering Faculty Excellence Award, 2004-2005
- Progress in Ceramic Basic Science: Challenge Toward the 21st Century, The Basic Science Division, The Ceramic Society of Japan, 1996
- Xerox Achievement Award, 1984
PROFESSIONAL MEMBERSHIPS
- Board of Directors, The Electrochemical Society
- Board of Directors, Maryland Clean Energy Center
- Councilor, Florida Section of the American Ceramic Society
- Past chair, ECS High Temperature Materials Division
- American Chemical Society
- Editor-in-chief, Ionics
- Former associate editor, Journal of the American Ceramic Society
- International Society for Solid State Ionics
- Materials Research Society
For more information on Dr. Wachsman's research groups, click here.
The Wachsman research lab is developing ceramic materials and processing methods to enable high-power, solid-state, lithium-ion batteries. Conventional lithium-ion batteries contain liquids that necessitate the use of heavy, protective components. By contrast, this technology uses no liquids and offers greater abuse tolerance and reducing weight. Dr. Wachsman's technology also has the potential to help reduce manufacturing costs using scalable, ceramic fabrication techniques that does not require dry rooms or vacuum equipment.
Dr. Wachsman's advances in fundamental ionic transport and electrocatalysis have revolutionized solid oxide fuel cells (SOFC's), ion transport membranes, and solid state sensors. SOFC's convert fuels directly into electricity, water and CO2, offering exciting applications in utility scale and automobile energy storage. Ion transport membranes are key to syn gas production systems. Solid state sensors provide an inexpensive, rugged sensor that offers a high temperature tolerance and long life span in applications such as NOx detection in combustion exhaust.
The research significantly contributes to the long-term goals of renewable energy, energy storage, fuel flexibility, and low emissions.
For detailed project descriptions, please visit Professor Wachsman's web site
For a complete list of publications, please visit Professor Wachsman's web site
Recent Publications
286. "Effects of surface chemical potentials on cation segregation", Ostrovskiy, Eugene and Huang, Yi-Lin and Wachsman, Eric D., J. Mater. Chem. A (2021), Vol. 9, pp. 1593-1602, DOI:10.1039/D0TA08850A.
285. "Amorphous-Carbon-Coated 3D Solid Electrolyte for an Electro-Chemomechanically Stable Lithium Metal Anode in Solid-State Batteries", Hua Xie, Chunpeng Yang, Yaoyu Ren, Shaomao Xu, Tanner R. Hamann, Dennis Wayne McOwen, Eric D. Wachsman, and Liangbing Hu, Nano Letters 2021 21 (14), 6163-6170, DOI: 10.1021/acs.nanolett.1c01748
284. "Transition from perovskite to misfit-layered structure materials: a highly oxygen deficient and stable oxygen electrode catalyst", Saqib, Muhammad and Choi, In-Gyu and Bae, Hohan and Park, Kwangho and Shin, Ji-Seop and Kim, You-Dong and Lee, John-In and Jo, Minkyeong and Kim, Yeong-Cehol and Lee, Kug-Seung and Song, Sun-Ju and Wachsman, Eric D. and Park, Jun-Young, Energy and Environmental Science, 2021, Vol. 14, pp. 2472-2484, DOI: 10.1039/D0EE02799E
283. "Computation-guided discovery of coating materials to stabilize the interface between lithium garnet solid electrolyte and high-energy cathodes for all-solid-state lithium batteries", Adelaide M. Nolan, Eric D. Wachsman, and Yifei Mo, Energy Storage Materials, 2021, Vol. 41, pp. 571-580, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ensm.2021.06.027
282. "Controlling exsolution with a charge-balanced doping approach", Samuel A. Horlick, Yi-Lin Huang, Ian A. Robinson, Eric D. Wachsman, Nano Energy, Volume 87, 2021,
ISSN 2211-2855, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nanoen.2021.106193
281. “Methane-to-Aromatics in a Gas Recycle Methane Reactor/Hydrogen Membrane Separator,” M. Sakbodin, E. Schulman, Y. Pan, E.D. Wachsman, and D. Liu, Catalysis Today, on-line https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cattod.2020.06.028 (2021).
- American Ceramic Society, 2012
- Electrochemical Society, 2008
- 2022