Leo Small

Leo Small, Ph.D.

Materials Scientist

Contact Information

Leo Small, Ph.D. / (505) 844-9987

Biography

Leo Small is a materials scientist and electrochemist at Sandia National Laboratories. He received his B.S. degree from Cornell University and Ph.D. from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, both in Materials Science. Over the past ten years, his work at Sandia National Laboratories has spanned the gamut from electrochemical energy storage technologies, to toxics gas sensors, to corrosion and electrochemistry of ferroelectrics. His research interests include impedance spectroscopy, solid state ion conductors, and materials integration and characterization of electrochemical systems, including energy storage technologies such as sodium batteries and redox flow batteries.

Research Interests

Materials for electrochemical energy storage, especially solid state ion conductors, membranes and separators

Application of impedance spectroscopy to dynamic electrochemical systems

Surface chemistries to control ion movement at interfaces

Education

Ph.D. in Materials Science and Engineering, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (Troy, NY), 2012

B.S. in Materials Science and Engineering, Cornell University (Ithaca, NY), 2009

Google Scholar

Leo Small, Ph.D.

Key Publications

L.J. Small, R.C. Hill, J. Krumhansl, M.E. Schindelholz, Z. Chen, K. Chapman, X. Zhang, S. Yang, M. Schroder, T.M. Nenoff Reversible MOF-Based Sensors for the Electrical Detection of Iodine Gas ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces, vol. 11, pp. 27982-27988, 2019, DOI: 10.1021/acsami.9b09938.

E.D. Spoerke, L.J. Small, M.E. Foster, J.S. Wheeler, A.M. Ullman, V. Stavila, M. Rodriguez, M.D. Allendorf MOF-Sensitized Solar Cells Enabled by a Pillared Porphyrin Framework J. Phys. Chem. C, vol. 121, pp. 4816-4824, 2017, DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpcc.6b11251.

N.S. Hudak, L.J. Small, H.D. Pratt, T.M. Anderson Through-Plane Conductivities of Membranes for Non-Aqueous Flow Batteries J. Electrochem. Soc., vol. 162, pp. A2188-A2194, 2015, DOI: 10.1149/2.0901510jes.

L.J. Small, T.M. Nenoff Direct Electrical Detection of Iodine Gas by a Novel Metal-Organic-Framework-Based Sensor ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces, vol. 9, pp. 44649-44655, 2017, DOI: 10.1021/acsami.7b16381.

J.T. Graham, G.L. Brennecka, P. Ferreira, L. Small, D. Duquette, C. Apblett, S. Landsberger, J.F. Ihlefeld Neutron irradiation effects on domain wall mobility and reversibility in lead zirconate titanate thin films J. Appl. Phys., vol. 113, pp. 124104, 2013, DOI: 10.1063/1.4795869.

Key Patents

J.A. Bock, E.D. Spoerke, H.J. Brown-Shaklee, L.J. Small Solution-Assisted Densification of NaSICON Ceramics US Patent Application, # 62/963,980, Jan. 21, 2020.

E.D. Spoerke, M.M. Gross, S.J. Percival, L.J. Small Surface Treatments of NaSICON Ceramics for Improved Sodium Electrochemical Interfaces US Patent Application # 62/940,697, Nov. 26, 2019.

E.D. Spoerke, S.J. Percival, L.J. Small Molten Inorganic Electrolytes for Low Temperature Sodium Batteries US Patent Application # 16/564,751. Sep. 2019.

L.J. Small, E. D. Spoerke Alternating Current Electrodialysis US Application # 16/691,333, Nov. 21, 2019.

L.J. Small, S.J. Percival, E.D. Spoerke Nanostructured polyelectrolytes for electrodialysis membranes US Application # 16/128,081, Jun. 10, 2020.

L.J. Small, T.M. Nenoff Sensor for the Direct Detection of Iodine, US Application # 15/937,298.

L.J. Small, H.D. Pratt, T.M. Anderson Nonaqueous Redox Flow Battery Electrolyte Comprising an Ionic Liquid with a Metal Cation Coordinated to Redox-Active Ligands US Patent No. 10,305,133 B2, May 28, 2019.

L.J. Small, P.G. Clem, E.D. Spoerke Electroless Process for Depositing Refractory Metals US Patent No. 10,263,241 B2, Apr. 16, 2019.

E.D. Spoerke, P.G. Clem, J.S. Wheeler, L.J. Small, J.F. Ihlefeld Cation-enhanced chemical stability of ion-conducting zirconium-based ceramics US Patent No. 9,988,312 B2, June 5, 2018.

E.D. Spoerke, J F. Ihlefeld, K. Waldrip, J.S. Wheeler, H.J Brown-Shaklee, L.J. Small, D.R. Wheeler Electrochemical Ion Separation in Molten Salts US Patent No. 9,847,149 B2. Dec. 19, 2017.

L.J. Small, D.R. Wheeler, E.D. Spoerke Method to Fabricate Functionalized Conical Nanopores US Patent No. 9,387,444 B2, July 12, 2016.