Martin Harmer
Lehigh University, PA·Materials Science
Batteries and solid-oxide fuel cells rely on ceramic oxides that let ions move through them quickly. These materials are key to storing and using renewable energy.
- Fields
Materials Science
Engineering
Chemistry
- Topics
ion-conducting materials
solid electrolytes
sodium-ion conductors
- Grants
- 1 known grant, last ended Sep 2026
What they work on
- Discover new sodium-ion conducting oxide ceramics by combining ultra-high-temperature synthesis, which sinters materials in about 10 seconds, with first-principles data-driven computation and high-throughput measurements.
- Build a closed-loop framework that links rapid synthesis, materials characterization and microstructural modeling to accelerate design of ceramic oxide materials.
- Map how composition, sintering conditions, microstructure and ion-conducting properties depend on each other across a wide range of oxide materials, to guide future searches for new oxides.
More about the research
Discovering new ones has been slow, because making and sintering ceramics takes a long time. Sintering is the step of heating a powder until it fuses into a dense solid. This collaborative project aims to speed up that discovery cycle dramatically.
Why it matters
Faster discovery of ion-conducting ceramics could yield sodium-ion conductors for sodium batteries. These batteries are an economical, environmentally friendly alternative to lithium-ion batteries for storing renewable energy. The closed-loop design approach could also shorten development time for other oxide materials used in batteries and solid-oxide fuel cells.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Sossina Haile
Northwestern University, IL·Materials Science
Build multilayer electrode structures in which ultra-thin, proton-permeable barrier layers stop active catalysts such as palladium and silver from reacting with the CsH2PO4 solid acid electrolyte.
Steve Martin
Iowa State University, IA·Materials Science
Prepare and characterize new sodium mixed glass former, mixed oxy-sulfide-nitride glassy solid electrolytes that combine silicon and phosphorus with oxygen, sulfur and nitrogen anions.
Anh Ngo
University of Illinois Chicago, IL·Materials Science
Characterize the solvation structure of liquid battery electrolytes, meaning how molecules arrange around each ion, across many compositions and concentrations using high-throughput multimodal measurements.
The school
Lehigh University: 13 labs on PI Pages, $62M a year on research, 99 research doctorates a year.
Reach out
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