Event
MSE Seminar: Dr. Regina García-Méndez, JHU
Wednesday, October 28, 2026
3:30 p.m.
Room 2108 Chemical and Nuclear Engineering Building
Sherri Tatum
301-405-5240
statum12@umd.edu
Processing as a Design Variable: Controlling Microstructure, Mechanics, and Ion Transport in Solid-State Battery Materials
Abstract: The performance of solid-state batteries depends not only on the intrinsic chemistry of their materials, but on the processing routes through which those materials acquire their microstructure and properties. This talk presents a research program that treats processing as a deliberate design variable across three connected problems spanning the electrode–electrolyte architecture.
I will first show how the microstructure of metal anodes can be engineered to guide more uniform, reversible plating and stripping. I will then turn to the composite cathode, where the mechanical properties of the solid electrolyte shape the stresses that develop during cycling and, in turn, the degradation that limits performance. Finally, I will discuss how processing conditions can be used to control the atomic-scale structure of mixed-alkali halide electrolytes, presenting early experimental evidence that thermal history sets the cation arrangement and, with it, ion transport.
Taken together, these efforts point to processing as a unifying and controllable handle on the structure and properties of solid-state battery materials, one that turns the empirical observation that "synthesis route matters" into predictive, transferable design principles.
Bio: Regina García-Méndez is an Assistant Professor at Johns Hopkins University, leading a research group that engineers functional ceramics for energy applications by treating processing as a design variable. Her group investigates how the thermodynamics and kinetics of fabrication govern phase selection, defect chemistry, and microstructural evolution, and how these in turn set the transport and mechanical properties that determine device performance. By working deliberately far from equilibrium, the group accesses metastable structures and microstructures that conventional routes cannot reach, while lowering the energy and emissions of ceramic manufacturing. Her group’s work spans materials processing far from equilibrium, solid-state ionics, advanced characterization and electrochemical energy storage. These principles anchor the group’s work on solid-state batteries and extend to emerging roles for ceramics as membranes for separations and structural components in extreme environments. García-Méndez joined Johns Hopkins in 2023 after a postdoctoral fellowship at Cornell University and a Ph.D. in Materials Science and Engineering from the University of Michigan.
