Long-Qing Chen

Chen's group's primary research is focused on the fundamental understanding of the thermodynamics and kinetics of phase transformations and mesoscale microstructure evolution in bulk solid and thin films using multiscale computer simulations. During the past 3 decades, Dr. Chen's group at Penn State has been particularly active in developing phase-field models for microstructure evolution during various materials processes including grain growth, coherent precipitation, ferroic domain formation, particle coarsening, domain structure evolution in thin films, phase transformation in the presence of structural defects, effect of stress on microstructure evolution. Current research focus of Dr. Chen's group is on the effect of stress/strain on ferroelectric phase transitions and domain structure evolution in ferroelectric and multiferroic thin films, piezoelectric and transparency of ferroelectric crystals and ceramics, electrochemical reactions and microstructure evolution in solid oxide fuel cells and batteries, phase transformations and microstructure evolution during additive manufacturing, and mesoscale structural evolution in quantum and functional materials involving both electronic and structural processes. Most of the research activities are carried out in collaboration with experimental groups.