About

Motivated by a desire to develop materials solutions to energy, health, and environmental challenges, the Perry group seeks to understand, tailor, and design functional and adaptive “solid state ionic” materials. Typically complex oxides, the materials of interest can transport ions and/or electrons, catalyze reactions, and interact with their surroundings. As a result, they undergird the performance of a vast array of energy storage and conversion devices (e.g., batteries, fuel cells, electrolyzers), reactors, sensors, actuators, therapeutic agents, and electronics. We focus on atomic-scale anomalies, called point defects, and the active electrical, catalytic, optical, and electro-chemo-mechanical behavior they control.  We leverage in situ electrochemistry, bulk and thin film synthesis, and spectroscopic and structural methods in controlled environments across many length scales to achieve this vision.

Our group forms part of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering and the Materials Research Laboratory at UIUC. We are grateful for this institutional and administrative support as well as for funding support from the DOE, NSF, US Army/CERL, bp-ICAM, and IIE-GIRE. Learn more about research here. See the team here.

We are committed to the pursuit of equity and justice in the university STEM context and to learning about and implementing best practices for the success of diverse teams in research, mentoring, teaching, and outreach. The campus IDEA institute and anti-racism task force have provided lists of resources here and here.

News

Read more news here.

2/2023: NP was selected for a 2023 Dean’s Award for Excellence in Research – thanks to the teamwork of our students, collaborators, research staff, etc!
1/2023: Adrian’s & Lawrence’s paper, in collaboration with the Ertekin group, on chemical expansion of Pr-oxide perovskites is published and marked as a “HOT Paper” by J. Mater. Chem. A – see papers here.
1/2023: NP taught 3 middle-school science classes on materials for clean energy at Franklin STEAM academy, via the MRSEC.