Shen J Dillon

For more information

• Dillon research group page

Professional Highlights

• Shen J. Dillon is an Associate Professor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He received his B.S. and Ph.D in Materials Science and Engineering from Lehigh University in 2007. He worked as a Research Associate at Carnegie Mellon University and a Visiting Research Scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He joined the faculty at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 2009. He is the author of over 70 articles, and was a recipient of the 2011 Department of Energy Early Career Award, the 2013 National Science Foundation CAREER Award, and the 2015 American Ceramic Society’s Robert L. Coble Award for Young Scholars.

Research Statement

My research focuses on linking atomic-scale processes in materials to the microstructural level and bulk properties. Much of the current work relates to the role of structure, defects, and interfaces in affecting materials for energy applications. Significant effort is being directed towards developing novel in-situ characterization methods that can serve as platforms for materials development and discovery.

Many critical phenomena that control materials processing and performance occur at interfaces, surface, grain boundaries, and other internal defects. The nature of the structure and dynamics of these interfaces and defects are highly complex and fully understanding them has been an ongoing challenge. As engineered materials become more complex and as microstructural length scales are reduced toward the nanoscale, the role of interfaces has become increasingly important in affecting performance. Many questions about the distributions of interfaces and defects; their structure, chemistry, energy, and effect on bulk properties still remain. Multi-scale approaches are critical for detailing the local structure of defects and their distribution within materials. Ongoing research seeks to apply advanced in situ characterization techniques; particularly in extreme environments such as at high temperatures, in irradiative fluxes, or in large fields. Promoting and exploiting advances in characterization enables new insights into scientific and engineering problems; such as optimizing materials. The development of new scientific paradigms will enable novel approaches to engineering materials of practical importance.

Research Topics

• Materials for Energy and the Environment
• Mechanical Properties and Materials for Extreme Conditions

Selected Articles in Journals

• Y. Ma, L. Feng, C.-Y. Tang, J.-H. Ouyang, and S.J. Dillon, "Effects of Commonly Evolved Solid-Electrolyte-Interphase (SEI) Reaction Product Gases on the Cycle Life of Li-Ion Full Cells," J. Electro. Chem Soc. 165, A3084-A3094 (2018)
• L. Feng, Z. Chen, R. Chen, S.J. Dillon, "A pseudo-​solid-​state cell for multiplatform in situ and operando characterization of Li-​ion electrodes," J. Power Sources 400, 198-203 (2018)
• L. Feng, X. Lu, T. Zhao, S.J. Dillon, "The effect of electrochemical cycling on the strength of LiCoO2," J. Am. Ceram. Soc. 102, 372-381 (2018)
• A. Bokov, S. Zhang, S.J. Dillon, L. Feng, R. Faller, R.H.R. Castro "Energetic design of grain boundary networks for toughening of nanocrystalline oxides," J. of the Euro. Ceram. Soc. 38, 4260-4267 (2018)
• C.-Y. Tang, R.T. Haasch, S.J. Dillon, "Surface redox on Li[Ni1/3Mn1/3Co1/3]O2 characterized by in situ X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and in situ Auger electron spectroscopy," Electrochimica Acta 277, 197-204 (2018)
• G.S. Jawaharram, P.M. Price, C.M. Barr, K. Hattar, R.S. Averback, S.J. Dillon, "High temperature irradiation induced creep in Ag nanopillars measured via in situ transmission electron microscopy," Scripta Mater. 48, 1-4 (2018)
• L. Feng, R. Hao, J. Lambros and S.J. Dillon, "Effect of chemistry and complexion on the fracture response of single alumina grain boundaries," Acta Mater. 142, 121-130 (2018)
• C.-Y. Tang, Y. Ma, R.T. Haasch, J.-H. Ouyang, S.J. Dillon,"Insights Into Solid-Electrolyte Interphase Induced Li-Ion Degradation from in situ Auger Electron Spectroscopy," J. Phys. Chem. Lett. 8, 6226-6230 (2017)
• C.-Y. Tang, K. Leung, R.T. Haasch, and S.J. Dillon, "LiMn2O4 Surface Chemistry Evolution during Cycling Revealed by in Situ Auger Electron Spectroscopy and X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy," ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces 9, 33968-33978 (2017)
• K. Sun, J. Xue, K. Tai, and S.J. Dillon, "The Oxygen Reduction Reaction Rate of Metallic Nanoparticles during Catalyzed Oxidation" Scientific Reports 7, Article number: 7017 (2017)
• J. Vance and S.J. Dillon, "Thermally induced bubble growth in water characterized via high-speed transmission electron microscopy," Chem. Comm. 53, 4930-4933 (2017)
• R. Hao, A.A. Tedstone, D.J. Lewis, C.P. Warrens, K.R. West, P. Howard, S. Gaemers, S.J. Dillon, and P. O’Brien, "Property Self-Optimization during Wear of MoS2" ACS Appl. Mater. & Interfaces 9, 1953-1958 (2017)
• P. Barai, B. Huang, S.J. Dillon, Partha P. Mukherjee "Mechano-electrochemical Interaction Gives Rise to Strain Relaxation in Sn Electrodes," J. Electrochem. Soc. 163, A3022-A3035 (2016)
• C.-Y. Tang, R.T. Haasch, and S.J. Dillon, "In situ X-ray photoelectron and Auger electron spectroscopic characterization of reaction mechanisms during Li-ion cycling," Chem. Comm. 52, 13257-13260 (2016)
• C.-Y. Tang and S.J. Dillon, "In situ Scanning Electron Microscopy Characterization of the Mechanism for Li Dendrite Growth," J. Electrochem. Soc. 163, A1660-A1665 (2016)
• S.N. Arshad, T.G. Lach, J. Ivanisenko, D. Setman, P. Bellon, S.J. Dillon, R.S. Averback, Robert S, "Self-organization of Cu-Ag during controlled severe plastic deformation at high temperatures," J. Mater. Res. 30, 1943-1956 (2015).
• K.W. Noh, K. Tai, S. Mao, and S.J. Dillon, "Grain boundary parting limit during dealloying," Adv. Eng. Mater. 17, 157-161 (2015)
• S. Mao, S. Shu, J. Zhou, R.S. Averback and S.J. Dillon, "Quantitative comparison of sink efficiency of Cu-Nb, Cu-V and Cu-Ni interfaces for point defects," Acta Mater. 82, 328-335 (2015)
• K. Tai, Y. Liu, and S.J. Dillon, "In Situ Cryogenic Transmission Electron Microscopy for Characterizing the Evolution of Solidifying Water Ice in Colloidal Systems," Microscopy & Microanalysis 20, 330-337 (2014)
• Y. Liu and S.J. Dillon, "In situ observation of electrolytic H2 evolution adjacent to gold cathode," Chem. Comm. 50, 1761-1763 (2014)
• P.R. Cantwell, M. Tang, S.J. Dillon, J. Luo, G.S. Rohrer, M.P. Harmer, " Grain Boundary Complexions," Acta Mater. 62, 1-48 (2014)
• K.-W. Noh, and S.J. Dillon, "Morphological changes in and around Sn electrodes during Li ion cycling characterized by in situ environmental TEM," Scripta Mater. 69, 658-661 (2013)
• Y. Liu, K. Tai and S.J. Dillon, "Growth kinetics and morphological evolution of ZnO precipitated from solution," Chem. Mater. 25[15], 2927-2933 (2013)
• K. Sun, B.Y. Ahn, T.-S. Wei, J.Y. Seo, S.J. Dillon and J.A. Lewis, "3D Printing of Interdigitated Li-Ion Microbattery Architectures," Adv. Mater. 25[33], 4539-4543 (2013)
• K. Tai, T. Houlahan, J.G. Eden, and S.J. Dillon, "Integration of microplasma with transmission electron microscopy: Real-time observation of gold sputtering and island formation," Scientific Reports 3, 1325-1329 (2013)
• K. Tai, A. Lawrence, M.P. Harmer, and S.J. Dillon, "Misorientation Dependence of Al2O3 Grain Boundary Thermal Resistance," Appl. Phys. Lett. 102, 034101/1-034101/4 (2013)
• S.N. Arshad, T.G. Lach, M. Pouryazdan, H. Hahn, P. Bellon, S.J. Dillon, and R.S. Averback, "Dependence of Shear-Induced Mixing on Length Scale," Scripta Mater. 68[3-4] 215-218 (2012)
• K.-W. Noh, Y. Liu, L. Sun, and S.J. Dillon, "Challenges associated with in-situ TEM in environmental systems. The case of silver in aqueous solutions," Ultramicroscopy 116, 34-38 (2012)
• X. Chen, K.-W. Noh, J.G. Wen, and S.J. Dillon, “In-situ electrochemical wet cell transmission electron microscopy characterization of solid-liquid interactions between Ni and aqueous NiCl2,” Acta Mater. 60[1], 192-198 (2012)
• S.J. Dillon and G.S. Rohrer, "Mechanism for the Development of Anisotropic Grain Boundary Character Distributions during Normal Grain Growth," Acta Mater. 57[1], 1-7 (2009)
• S.J. Dillon and G.S. Rohrer, “Characterization of the Grain Boundary Character and Energy Distributions of Yttria using Automated Serial Sectioning and EBSD in the FIB,” J. Amer. Ceram. Soc. 92[7], 1580-1585 (2009)
• S.J. Dillon M. Tang, W.C. Carter and M.P. Harmer, " Complexion: A New Concept for Kinetic Engineering in Materials Science," Acta Mater. 55[18], 6208-6218 (2007)
• S.J. Dillon and M.P. Harmer, "Multiple Grain Boundary Transitions in Ceramics: A Case Study of Alumina," Acta Mat. 55[15], 5247-5254 (2007)

Research Honors

• National Science foundation, CAREER award (2013)
• Department of Energy, Early Career Award (2011)

Courses Taught

• MSE 395 - Materials Design
• MSE 401 - Thermodynamics of Materials
• MSE 445 - Corrosion of Metals
• MSE 466 - Materials in Electrochem Syst
• MSE 529 - Hard Materials Seminar