4000 University Drive
McKeesport, PA 15132
Biography
Dr. Soto joined Penn State Greater Allegheny in 2021 after completing his Postdoctoral appointment at Texas A&M University (College Station) and his Ph.D. at Louisiana Tech University. Dr. Soto teaches courses in Energy Engineering, Materials Science, and Energy and the Environment. In his research, he applies an integrative in silico approach, including first-principles calculations and atomistic-based simulations, to gain a fundamental understanding of the interfacial region in multi-valent battery technologies and multi-functional materials for energy, catalysis, and sustainability applications.
Teaching Interests: Energy and the Environment, Materials Science, Chemistry of Fuels
Area(s) of Expertise: Computational materials science, density functional theory, ab-initio molecular dynamics
Research Interests
- Electrochemical Energy Storage
- Hydrogen Energy Storage
- Catalysis
- Sustainable Concrete Engineering
- Corrosion Science
- Additive Manufacturing
- Semiconductors
Publications
He, X., Bresser, D., Passerini, S. et al. The passivity of lithium electrodes in liquid electrolytes for secondary batteries. Nat Rev Mater 6, 1036–1052 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41578-021-00345-5
X. Liu, B. Li, F.A. Soto, X. Li, R.R. Unocic, P.B. Balbuena, A.R. Harutyunyan, J. Hone, D.V. Esposito, Enhancing Hydrogen Evolution Activity of Monolayer Molybdenum Disulfide via a Molecular Proton Mediator, ACS Catalysis, 11 (2021) 12159-12169.
L. Cao, D. Li, F. A. Soto, V. Ponce, B. Zhang, L. Ma, T. Deng, J. M. Seminario, E. Hu, X.-Q. Yang, P. B. Balbuena, C. Wang, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2021, 60, 18845.
Soto, F. A., Galvez-Aranda, D. E., Seminario, J. M., & Balbuena, P. B. (2021). Computational studies for understanding and developing silicon anodes. Lithium-Ion Batteries Enabled by Silicon Anodes, 169.
J. Tan, F.A. Soto, J. Noh, P. Wu, D.R. Yadav, K. Xie, P.B. Balbuena, C. Yu, Large areal capacity and dendrite-free anodes with long lifetime enabled by distributed lithium plating with mossy manganese oxides, Journal of Materials Chemistry A, 9 (2021) 9291-9300.
L. Cao, D. Li, F. A. Soto, V. Ponce, B. Zhang, L. Ma, T. Deng, J. M. Seminario, E. Hu, X.-Q. Yang, P. B. Balbuena, C. Wang, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2021, 60, 18845.
Sharifi-Asl, S., Soto, F. A., Foroozan, T., Asadi, M., Yuan, Y., Deivanayagam, R., Rojaee, R., Song, B., Bi, X., Amine, K., Lu, J., Salehi-khojin, A., Balbuena, P. B., Shahbazian-Yassar, R., Anti-Oxygen Leaking LiCoO2. Adv. Funct. Mater. 2019, 29,1901110.
Y. Zheng, F.A. Soto, V. Ponce, J.M. Seminario, X. Cao, J.-G. Zhang, P.B. Balbuena, Localized high concentration electrolyte behavior near a lithium–metal anode surface, Journal of Materials Chemistry A, 7 (2019) 25047-25055.
Xiao, B., Soto, F. A., Gu, M., Han, K. S., Song, J., Wang, H., Engelhard, M. H., Murugesan, V., Mueller, K. T., Reed, D.,
Sprenkle, V. L., Balbuena, P. B., Li, X., Adv. Energy Mater. 2018, 8, 1801441.
Education
Ph.D. Engineering (Micro & Nanoscale Systems), Louisiana Tech University, 2014
M.S. Microsystems Engineering, Louisiana Tech University, 2011
B.S. Industrial Engineering | Entrepreneurship minor, Louisiana Tech University, 2007
Papers and Presentations
Fernando A. Soto, Saul Perez-Beltran, Maria Angarita-Gomez, Yu Zheng and Perla B. Balbuena, Solvation Structure,
Reactions and Rare-Event Dynamics in LCHE Solutions, Batt500 All-Hands Meeting, November 7, 2019. Austin, TX.
Fernando A. Soto, Kie Hankins, and Perla B. Balbuena, Ab-Initio Molecular Dynamics of Lean Electrolytes for Li-S
Batteries, Electrochemical Biannual Spring Meeting, May 28, 2019. Dallas, TX.
Fernando A. Soto and Perla B. Balbuena, On the Road Towards Atom and Energy-Efficient Materials for Battery
Applications, Second Annual Texas A&M Research Computing Symposium, June 13, 2018. College Station, TX.
Fernando A. Soto, A. Marzouk, F. El-Mellouhi, and Perla B. Balbuena, Understanding Ionic Diffusion Through SEI
Components for Lithium-ion and Sodium-ion Batteries, Materials Science and Engineering Symposium, February 26,
2018. Doha, Qatar.
Fernando A. Soto, Soroosh Sharifi-Asl, Reza Shahbazian-Yassar and Perla B. Balbuena, DFT Study of Surface and Interface
Issues in LiCoO2 for Li-Ion Batteries, Electrochemical Biannual Spring Meeting, May 28, 2017. New Orleans, LA.