Faculty Directory
Thomas Mason

Professor Emeritus of Materials Science and Engineering

Contact

2220 Campus Drive
Cook Hall 2036; Office - Cook 3037
Evanston, IL 60208

Email Thomas Mason

Departments

Materials Science and Engineering

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Education

Ph.D. Materials Science and Engineering, MIT, Cambridge, MA

B.S. Ceramic Science, Penn State, University Park, PA


Research Interests

Structure-Property Relationships in Electroceramics          

Professor Mason’s research expertise is in the field of electroceramics, including both electronically and ionically conductive materials. An overriding focus has been the role of point defects in their structure-property relationships. In the area of electronically conductive materials, his research interests involve transparent conducting oxides (TCOs). These materials boast a rare combination of optical transparency and high electronic mobility. TCOs serve as transparent electrodes in a wide range of applications, from flat panel displays to solar cells. Phase diagram studies are useful for identifying new TCOs and the doping mechanisms in existing and novel TCOs.

High ionic conductivity is required for advanced electrochemical systems, for example solid oxide fuel cells and electrolyzers (SOFCs, SOECs). One particular focus has been the application of AC impedance spectroscopy (AC-IS) in the characterization of polycrystalline ionic conductors. In the case of nano-grained ceramics, the Mason group developed the nano-grained composite model (n-GCM) as a more accurate alternative to the conventional brick layer model for the characterization of local bulk vs. grain boundary properties in nanocrystalline ionic conductors. Another significant application of AC-IS has been for the study of cement-based materials and fiber-reinforced composites


Significant Recognition

  • Fellow, ACerS
  • Fulrath-Pacific Award, ACerS, 1994
  • Schwartzwalder-PACE Award, AcerS, 1990
  • Highly Cited Scientist, ISI Web of Science

Significant Professional Service

  • Member, International Academy of Ceramics
  • Charles Deering McCormick Professor of Teaching Excellence, 2001-2004

Selected Publications

  • Moffitt, Stephanie L.; Buchholz, D. Bruce; Chang, Robert P.H.; Mason, Thomas O.; Marks, Tobin J.; Bedzyk, Michael J.; Ma, Qing, Surface Chemistry and Long-Term Stability of Amorphous Zn-Sn-O Thin Films, Journal of Physical Chemistry C 122(49):28151-28157 (2018).
  • Moffitt, Stephanie L.; Zhu, Qimin; Ma, Qing; Falduto, Allison F.; Buchholz, D. Bruce; Chang, Robert P.H.; Mason, Thomas O.; Medvedeva, Julia E.; Marks, Tobin J.; Bedzyk, Michael J., Probing the Unique Role of Gallium in Amorphous Oxide Semiconductors through Structure–Property Relationships, Advanced Electronic Materials 3(10) (2017).
  • Miller, Samuel A.; Gorai, Prashun; Ortiz, Brenden R.; Goyal, Anuj; Gao, Duanfeng; Barnett, Scott A.; Mason, Thomas O.; Snyder, G. Jeffrey; Lv, Qin; Stevanović, Vladan; Toberer, Eric S., Capturing Anharmonicity in a Lattice Thermal Conductivity Model for High-Throughput Predictions, Chemistry of Materials 29(6):2494-2501 (2017).
  • Miller, Samuel A.; Gorai, Prashun; Aydemir, Umut; Mason, Thomas O.; Stevanović, Vladan; Toberer, Eric S.; Jeffrey Snyder, G., SnO as a potential oxide thermoelectric candidate, Journal of Materials Chemistry C 5(34):8854-8861 (2017).
  • Duffy, Patrick K.; Beal, Rachel A.; Layton, Carys E.; Barnett, Scott A.; Mason, Thomas O., Solubility limits and LaGaO3 compatibility in the LaO1.5-GaO1.5-NiO ternary system, Journal of the American Ceramic Society 100(4):1682-1688 (2016).
  • Moffitt, S. L.; Ma, Q.; Buchholz, D. B.; Chang, R. P.H.; Bedzyk, M. J.; Mason, T. O., Grazing incidence X-ray absorption characterization of amorphous Zn-Sn-O thin film, Journal of Physics: Conference Series 712(1) (2016).
  • Dolgonos, Alex; Mason, Thomas O.; Poeppelmeier, Kenneth R., Direct optical band gap measurement in polycrystalline semiconductors, Journal of Solid State Chemistry 240:43-48 (2016).
  • Gorai, Prashun; Gao, Duanfeng; Ortiz, Brenden; Miller, Sam; Barnett, Scott A.; Mason, Thomas; Lv, Qin; Stevanović, Vladan; Toberer, Eric S., TE Design Lab, Computational Materials Science 112:368-376 (2016).