Brian J. Landi - Featured Faculty 2012
Brian J. Landi
Kate Gleason College of Engineering
BRIAN J. LANDI IS AN ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR IN THE DEPARTMENT OF CHEMICAL AND BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING WITH APPOINTMENTS AS CORE GRADUATE FACULTY IN MICROSYSTEMS ENGINEERING, EXTENDED GRADUATE FACULTY IN SUSTAINABILITY, AND AS GROUP LEADER IN THE NANOPOWER RESEARCH LABORATORIES. HIS RESEARCH FOCUSES ON ENHANCING THE PERFORMANCE OF ENERGY CONVERSION, TRANSMISSION, AND STORAGE DEVICES THROUGH THE USE OF NANOMATERIALS.
Dr. Landi's research group utilizes carbon nanotubes (CNTs) as a conductive additive or novel electrode support to increase the energy density and thermal stability of lithium ion batteries. The combined efforts to date include designs with CNTs towards a cell energy density of 250-300 Wh/kg, which is ~50% increase over state of the art. Another major effort in his group has focused on improving the electrical conductivity of bulk CNT wires and cables for power and data transmission. CNT wires and ribbons have recently been shown as viable replacements for metallic conductors in lab-scale demonstrations of coaxial, USB, and Ethernet cables. The recent papers in 2012 from Dr. Landi's group were the first publications showing the methodology and improvement of CNT-enabled coaxial cables. A third major research area has focused on measuring the tolerance of CNTs to harsh radiation environments in collaboration with the US Naval Research Laboratories. In August, 2012, his group published the first comprehensive study on the radiation effects of electronic type-separated SWCNT thin films and developed an empirical model relating exposure amounts to changes in the bulk electrical transport properties.
Dr. Landi's research efforts during the last 5 years have translated into $4M as Principal investigator and over 50 publications. He has supported 28 undergraduate, 6 graduate, and 3 postdoctoral students. He has also given notable presentations on the research at the OECD, NASA Headquarters, Air Force Research Labs, Naval Research Labs, and NY Advanced Energy Conference. Dr. Landi will be serving as co-chair of the 2013 ACS National Meeting Symposium on Advances in Materials for Batteries and as co-chair of the 2013 MRS National Meeting Symposium on Transport Properties in Nanocomposites.
In March, 2013, Dr. Landi was promoted to Associate Professor with tenure in the KGCOE effective for the 2013-2014 academic year.