Katerina E. Aifantis focuses on using solid mechanics for understanding materials behavior at the nanoscale. Through funding from the Basic Energy Sciences Office of the Department of Energy she tries to understand the effect that grain boundary structure and chemistry have on the strength of sub-micron scale materials. In addition to basic science questions, she uses her theoretical and experimental insight into the materials mechanical behavior to predict the most promising materials systems that can be used in various applications, ranging from next generation electrodes for Li-ion batteries, to bone regeneration scaffolds and bioacompatible electrodes for deep brain stimulation
