Pierre Yao

Assistant Professor

EDUCATION

PhD | Massachusetts Institute of Technology
BS | Mechanical Engineering, University of Delaware

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Professor Yao’s research so far focuses on the design, fabrication, and characterization of energy materials for energy storage including Lithium-Oxygen and Lithium-Ion batteries. Professor Yao is particularly interested in the development and utilization of operando electrochemical tools such as operando diffraction and spectroscopy for quasi real-time understanding of energy materials. A sample of Professor Yao’s current research interests are: (i) understanding of battery materials using operando synchrotron tools, (ii) understanding of degradation mechanics in conversion anodes for Lithium-Ion batteries in tandem with novel material design to mitigate these identified degradation pathways, (iii) developing novel electrolyte systems for suppression of polysufide shuttling in Lithium-Sulfur batteries, (iv) modeling of coupled transport and thermodynamics in ion-intercalation energy storage materials, (v) application of data science tools to energy material discovery.

Prior to joining the faculty of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Delaware, Dr. Yao graduated with a Ph.D from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2016 and completed two years as a postdoctoral researcher at the Argonne National Laboratory. Dr. Yao is also an Alumni of the University of Delaware Department of Mechanical Engineering where he received his Bachelor’s (Summa Cum Laude). During his Ph.D, Dr. Yao received five years of research funding from Toyota Motor Europe R&D Advanced Technologies.

RESEARCH AREAS

• Clean Energy & Environment

FACULTY EXPERTISE

• Heat Transfer & Thermodynamics
• Materials Engineering