Josef W. Zwanziger

Canada Research Chair in NMR Studies of Materials
Chemistry

Education

• 1983, BA Chemistry with Honours, University of Chicago
• 1985, MS, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY
• 1988, PhD, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY

Patents

• Structurable Polymer Composites for Lithium Batteries, R. Ulrich, J. W. Zwanziger, S. M. De Paul, U. Wiesner, and H. W. Spiess, US Patent 6,472,104
• Glass with reduced stress optic coefficient, J. W. Zwanziger and M. Guignard, pending

Professional societies

• American Chemical Society
• American Ceramic Society

Honors and awards

• 2007, Dalhousie Innovation Award
• 2000, Teaching Excellence Recognition Award, Indiana University
• 1997, Research Fellowship, Alexander von Humboldt Foundation
• 1987, Beta Kappa
  Howard Neil Wachter Prize for outstanding work in theoretical and experimental physical chemistry, Cornell University

Professional activities

• Member, Institute for Research in Materials and Chair of the Facilities Management Committee for the Institute
• Senior Editor, Journal of Physical Chemistry of the American Chemical Society;
• Member of  Instrument Advisory Team for the NOMAD glass and liquids diffractometer being built at the Spallation Neutron Source;
• Proposal reviewer for the Advanced Photon Source;
• Session organizer for American Ceramics Society National Meeting (1995, 2000)
• Session organizer for Special Interest Group on Amorphous Materials of the American Crystallographic Society 1997--99;
• Chair of this group in 1998.
• Reviewer for major journals (Physical Review and Physical Review Letters, J. Chem. Phys.; J. Phys. Chem., J. Non-Cryst. Solids, etc.);
• Panel participant at NSF, reviewer for NSERC, PRF, DOE, Research Corp.

Publications
More than 200 peer-reviewed articles, presentations and invited papers

Website
Zwanziger Lab 

E-mail: Dr. Josef Zwanziger

The right stuff

Josef Zwanziger is in the business of investigating "stuff" and wondering why "things" are the way they are

To be exact, the "stuff" and "things" that interest Zwanziger are materials, like optical glass and the guts of lithium-ion batteries. They´re materials that we rely upon every day, when we pick up the phone or turn on a laptop computer. As Canada Research Chair in Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Study of Materials, and Director of the Atlantic Region Magnetic Resonance Centre at Dalhousie, he's finding ways to make these materials better by studying and characterizing them, atom by atom.

Materials research happens to be one of Dalhousie's research strengths, and Zwanziger is adding greatly to it using the largest nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectrometer devoted to materials research in Canada. NMR spectroscopy is a unique method of examining the structure of a given material at the atomic level. "Materials" can be almost any substance, but in this case, he focuses on two in particular.

"We have a really active effort making new polymer-based materials for lithium-ion batteries", he says, the type of batteries commonly used in laptop computers and cell phones. His research is targeted at battery electrolytes, or the substance within the battery that creates electric energy. Traditionally, electrolytes are composed of metals and liquids such as acid, making them heavy and potentially dangerous to people and the environment should the contents leak.

Zwanziger and his research assistants are looking at the structure and properties of different kinds of electrolytes, like plastic and liquid combinations. The goal is to develop an electrolyte that that packs enough punch for the most power-hungry electronic gadgets or possibly electric-powered vehicles, while remaining lightweight and safe, even if the battery breaks open.

His other research area is glass, particularly glass fibre used in communications networks. By examining the bonds between glass atoms and different additives, he´s determining which compositions are most resilient to pressure and stress.

(Source: Dalhousie Research Profiles)