Join us for the April Characterization User Forum focused on optical spectroscopy.
DATE: Wednesday, April 9, 2025
TIME: 4:00 p.m. — 5:00 p.m. ET
LOCATION: 12-0168 (MIT.nano basement teaching space)
- Get to know your Characterization community.
- Bring questions about your data.
- Share your feedback in a user-led town hall.
- Stay up-to-date with facility news.
- Food and drink will be provided.
Each user forum also includes a spotlight talk by a graduate student. The April forum will feature:
Quantifying sodium salt solubility in organic solvents using Inductively Coupled Plasma Optical Emission Spectroscopy
Speaker
Chien-Rung Shih
Graduate Student, Chemical Engineering, MIT
Abstract
Solubility is an important parameter in the battery field as it governs the stability of the passivation layer formed on the electrode surface, which consists of organic and inorganic salts. However, these solubility values are typically below the detection limit of common analytical techniques, such as Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) Spectroscopy and Ion-selective Electrode (ISE). In contrast, Inductively Coupled Plasma Optical Emission Spectroscopy (ICP-OES) has much lower detection limits and is highly selective towards individual elements. In this presentation, Shih will discuss her work on measuring the solubility of various sodium salts in organic electrolytes using ICP-OES, focusing on strategies to mitigate sample contamination, enhance sensitivity, and perform measurements for non-aqueous systems.
Biography
Chien-Rung joined the Department of Chemical Engineering in 2023 and is co-advised by Prof. Betar Gallant in Mechanical Engineering and Prof. Martin Bazant in Chemical Engineering. She is an NSF Graduate Research Fellow. She grew up in Taipei, Taiwan, and she received her BS in Chemical Engineering and Chemistry from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. In her undergrad, she studied the intermediates of electrochemical alkane transformation on transition metal surfaces under Prof. Marcel Schreier. She is interested in technology that can promote the transition to renewable energy and is currently studying the solid electrolyte interface of sodium-ion batteries. Her hobbies include photography, weightlifting, and playing jigsaw puzzles.