One of the world's leading engineering scientists is driving the development of nanomaterials known as MXenes in his labs in Indianapolis and West Lafayette.
Babak Anasoli is a big man. He Based on a ScholarGPS analysis of more than 140 million publications, he is ranked first in the U.S. and seventh worldwide among mechanical engineering scholars.
Research.com ranked him as the No. 4 emerging scientist in the U.S. for 2023 and No. 15 in the world.
But to Purdue students, he is a mentor and friend, an approachable and engaging principal investigator in the Anasoli Layered Materials and Structures Laboratory (LMSL) and a Riley Rising Star Associate Professor in the Departments of Materials Engineering and Mechanical Engineering.
Anasoli's lab at Purdue reflects his passion for students, especially helping them figure out their career paths.
“When I started college, I had no idea what materials science or materials engineering was,” he says. “With that in mind, I'm always looking for students who might be a great fit for materials engineering, but who might not know exactly what it is or what they want to do in life.”
The journey began in Iran
Being open to new possibilities is important to Anasoli, and he likes to tell his students, “I didn't choose materials science; materials science chose me.”
In his native Iran, there is a national, standardized university entrance exam. “It's a four-hour SAT-style test,” he explains. “It's highly competitive and it determines not only where you can study, but what you can study.”
Anasoli was accepted into her first choice, Sharif University of Technology in Tehran.
When it came time to choose the academic fields he wanted to pursue, he chose majors that were close to him and reflected his love of making things: mechanical, civil and industrial engineering. To complete his list, he added materials science and engineering, though he wasn't quite sure what that was.
“The results came in and I was selected for Materials Science and Engineering,” he says, “the field I knew the least about. But little by little, I became interested in the field. I realized that by combining atoms, I could pursue my passion for building at the smallest possible scale.”
After earning his bachelor's degree from Sharif University and his master's degree from the University of Tehran, Anasoli moved to Philadelphia to earn his PhD from Drexel University, which has one of the top materials science programs in the world.
His research, conducted in the laboratories of Michelle Barsoum and Yuri Gogotsi at Drexel University, led to the creation of a new subfamily of nanomaterials known as MXenes (pronounced “maxines”).
A sense of discovery
Given his background, it's no surprise that Anasoli would take a scientific approach when encouraging students to consider STEM majors and careers: He starts by asking lots of questions.
“Whenever I teach or meet students on campus, I ask them: 'What are your goals in life? What are your goals in life? What do you enjoy doing?'” he says.
“If a student tells me they like fixing things around the house or doing projects, I see that as a sign they might be interested in materials science or engineering, because it's all about making things, building things.”
Anasoli knows that students may need help understanding what it means to connect their interests to a career, and she shows that to them.
“When I find an undergraduate student who is a good fit for my lab, I invite them to join me. I also tell my graduate students and postdocs that we are always looking to help and mentor the next generation, and I promote this culture,” he says.
“Some students see research as a lifelong career, while others realize it's not what they want to do for the rest of their life,” he says, “but our lab has a culture of inclusion. Everyone has the opportunity to discover their passions and maybe even new materials.”
Discovering MXenes is what the Anasoli lab is all about. “Basically, students experiment with atoms and elements,” he says. “Sometimes they discover new materials.”
Anasoli tells her students that this experience means they now know things that no one on Earth knows until they share them with the world.
“And that's the feeling of discovery,” he says. “When I discovered the MXenes group at Drexel, I was incredibly excited, and I want to give as many students as possible the opportunity to experience that same excitement.”
MXenes “Recipe”
MXenes are two-dimensional (2D) transition metal carbide, carbonitride, and nitride nanomaterials that are electrically conductive, durable, and electromagnetic radiation opaque.
As a relatively new material, its applications are continually evolving, but current applications include materials for energy storage and generation, lighter and stronger composites, electromagnetic interference shielding, biomedical, and carbon capture and utilisation.
Always striving to make science more accessible, Anasoli likens the work that goes on in the lab to a familiar process: cooking.
“When we make materials, which we call synthesis, it's somewhat similar to cooking,” he explains. “Elements are our main ingredients. Essentially, we look at the periodic table and mix titanium, aluminum, and carbon in different moles, or 'spoons.' We measure the mass and molarity, and mix them together based on molarity.”
One of the mixers in the Anasoli lab spins slowly and does the “mixing” work, sometimes overnight. The other is more powerful, spins faster, and can mix the ingredients in a matter of hours.
“You mix the atoms together, then you take them and put them in an oven,” he says, “and our ovens, of course, are much hotter than your average oven. They sometimes go up to 1,600 degrees Celsius, up to 3,000 degrees Fahrenheit. Some go up to over 2,000 degrees Celsius.”
Anasoli sticks to the culinary analogy not only because he believes it's accurate, but also to help a wider audience understand the detailed, technical work he does.
“I believe that if we can make materials science relevant to everyday life, we can attract more students,” he says, “so yes, we're cooking, but the results can be very novel, something that nobody has thought of before.”
“We 'invent' new uses for MXene materials, whether it's in electronics, computers, space travel, or whatever,” he says. “Then, rather than just tasting what we invent, we test it in different ways, using different forces, x-rays, electron beams, etc., to understand (the 'taste') how the new material we've created works.”
Nano Art
Another unexpected use for MXenes that Anasoli has found is in the world of art: MXenes have turned out to be not only useful, but beautiful, too.
“Nanoart became a hobby for me while working on my PhD,” he says. “It was the perfect distraction when I felt overwhelmed.”
Anasoli had never done nanoart before coming to Drexel University, but he was intrigued: “I started working with the MAX phase, and every time I looked under the microscope, I was able to capture a lot of interesting features, which are layered structures.”
As he colored the layers in Photoshop, an image began to emerge: “Microscopic images are not 'real' in some sense because they are produced by scanning electrons, not light. They come out of the computer in black and white. It's up to the person, the scientist, the artist, to interpret what they're seeing and give it color.”
Nanoart has expanded Anasoli's creativity. “I like to visualize things,” he says. “Imagination is a big part of my materials discovery research.”
He soon began entering his colorful works in competitions and winning prizes.
When Anasoli became a professor, he wanted to offer his students the experiences that had been so meaningful to him.
“I started the Nano Artography contest to create an inclusive space,” he says. “It started as an anonymous contest. It grew organically, and last year we had 300 submissions from 36 countries.”
Friday Night Free Thoughts
Outside of the lab, Anasoli spends his time cultivating a positive group culture: He wants everyone to be involved, to mentor and help each other, and to know that their opinions matter.
To achieve these goals, he organizes more relaxed, less technical meetings on Friday evenings, where he encourages students to think outside the box and share their ideas freely, and he invites a wide range of students from different academic disciplines.
“They come to the meetings and basically start thinking out loud,” he says. “If they have some crazy ideas they want to try, we'll discuss them at the Friday night meeting. There's no judgement, there's no right or wrong, and sometimes it sparks new ideas that lead to new directions for research or discoveries of new materials.”
Living in the Hard Tech Corridor
In addition to Anasoli’s thoughtful mentorship, Purdue students in Indianapolis also benefit from the campus’s location at the edge of the university’s hard tech corridor.
“For undergraduates, an urban campus is exciting because there are so many fun things to do,” he says, “and for students who want to do research, being in an environment with so many companies nearby makes internships and exchanges much easier.”
“I have two labs, one in Indianapolis and a new one being built in West Lafayette,” he says, “and we're really going to realize Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek's vision of the Hard Tech Corridor.”
He said students are excited about the expansion of the Indianapolis lab to West Lafayette because the new lab will have different equipment and new opportunities for interaction and collaboration.
“Having a presence in both locations will give us access to the best of both campuses,” he says. “I can't wait to see the impact.”
“For undergraduates, an urban campus is exciting because there are so many fun things to do. And for students who want to do research, being in an environment with so many companies nearby makes internships and interactions much easier.”
Babak Anasoli
Associate Professor Riley Rising Star
Faculty of Materials Science and Engineering
Faculty of Mechanical Engineering