Kieran Orr
Bio: Kieran joins Stanford from the United Kingdom, where he was born and raised in the countryside between London and England’s South coast. He read Chemistry at the University of Oxford, undertaking master’s research with Professor Andrew Goodwin and Dr Hamish Yeung (now University of Birmingham) investigating the mechanism of metal-organic framework nanoparticle formation using in situ synchrotron X-ray diffraction. He then moved to the University of Cambridge to carry out his PhD research with Professor Samuel Stranks using a range of synchrotron-based diffraction techniques to understand the defect chemistry in halide perovskite materials used or solar energy, lighting, and detector technologies.
Postdoctoral research project: Understanding Ion Transport in Solids to Improve Batteries and Fuel Cells. Moving across the Atlantic, Kieran’s Energy Fellowship research will focus on improving solid-state electrolytes for batteries and fuel cells. Key challenges for these technologies include replacing the harmful and flammable liquid electrolytes currently used as industry standards and achieving fast charging to improve commercial competitiveness, especially in the transportation sector. Substituting current ion transport media with a highly conductive solid-state electrolyte has the potential to address these challenges, drastically improving energy storage and energy conversion devices. However, the precise mechanism of ion hopping in solids is poorly understood, having been studied primarily from theoretical and computational standpoints. Kieran will employ a suite of atomic-scale sensitive real-time structural probes making heavy use SLAC’s X-ray diffraction capabilities to gain a detailed, mechanistic understanding of how ions are transported through solid electrolytes.
Research focus: Energy Conversion & Storage - Solid state batteries
Advisors: Aaron Lindenberg - Materials Science and Engineering | Will Chueh and David Reis - Materials Science and Engineering; SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory