Michel Barsoum: Difference between revisions

 

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and a Ph.D. in ceramics from the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at the [[Massachusetts Institute of Technology]] in June 1985.<ref name=”BarsoumCV”/>

and a Ph.D. in ceramics from the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at the [[Massachusetts Institute of Technology]] in June 1985.<ref name=”BarsoumCV”/>

== Biography ==

== ==

Barsoum is distinguished professor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at Drexel University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He is a member of the American Ceramics Society and the World Academy of Ceramics.

Barsoum is in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at Drexel University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

After earning his Ph.D. in ceramics from the [[Massachusetts Institute of Technology]] in 1985, he joined Drexel as an assistant professor. He was promoted to associate professor, and in 1997 became a full professor.<ref name=”BarsoumCV”>{{cite web |title=Curriculum Vitae — Michel W. Barsoum |url=https://materials.drexel.edu/media/mse/materials/pdf/Barsoum-CV.pdf |publisher=Drexel University |access-date=8 October 2025}}</ref> Between 2009 and 2013, he held the A. W. Grosvenor Professorship, and in 1999 he was appointed Distinguished Professor, a title he continues to hold.<ref name=”DrexelProfile”/>

Barsoum is a recognized leader in the area of MAX phases, which were first fabricated and fully characterized with Dr. Tamer El Raghy at Drexel University in 1995. They synthesized two families of ternary machinable carbides and nitrides, namely Ti³SiC² and the H-phases. Barsoum and his collaborators have published over 200 papers on MAX phases. He is the author of the two entries on the MAX phases in the Encyclopedia of Materials Science and Engineering.

Barsoum has held numerous visiting and sabbatical appointments at international research institutions. These include the [[Max Planck Institute for Metal Research]] in Stuttgart, Germany (1993–1994; 2000–2001); [[Imperial College London]] (2015); the [[Institut polytechnique de Grenoble]] in France (2016); and the [[Los Alamos National Laboratory]] in New Mexico (2008–2009), where he was a Wheatley Scholar.<ref name=”BarsoumCV”/> He has also been affiliated with the [[University of Poitiers]] and the [[Commissariat à l’énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives]] (CEA) in France, and the [[Ningbo Institute of Materials Technology and Engineering]] in China.<ref name=”BarsoumCV”/> Since 2008, he has served as a Visiting Professor at [[Linköping University]] in Sweden.<ref name=”BarsoumCV”/>

Professor Barsoum was awarded a Humboldt Max Planck Research Award in 2000 and worked one year at the Max Planck Institute in Stuttgart, Germany. In 2008–2009, he was a Wheatley Scholar at Los Alamos National Lab in Los Alamos, New Mexico. He is a visiting professor at Linkoping University in Linkoping, Sweden.

Barsoum is a fellow of the [[American Ceramic Society]] and the [[World Academy of Ceramics]], and a foreign member of the [[Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences]]. He received the [[Humboldt Prize|Humboldt Max Planck Research Award]] in 2000 and a Chair of Excellence from the Nanosciences Foundation in Grenoble, France, in 2017. In 2020, he was awarded the [[World Academy of Ceramics#Awards|International Ceramics Prize for Basic Science]] “for outstanding contributions in opening new horizons in material research and specifically for pioneering work in MAX phases and their derivatives.”<ref>{{cite web |title=International Ceramics Prize 2020 |url=https://www.wac-ceramics.org/awards/ |publisher=World Academy of Ceramics |access-date=8 October 2025}}</ref>

He is an inventor of 2D transitional metal carbides, carbonitrides and nitrides labeled [[MXenes]] and derived from the MAX phases. They can be used in many applications, most significantly in lithium-ion and sodium-ion energy storage systems. The polycrystalline nanolaminate structure of these compounds endowed them with a set of unique and remarkable properties that have application in electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding and water purification.

With over 450 peer-reviewed publications and an [[h-index]] exceeding 100, Barsoum has been listed among the [[Clarivate]] Highly Cited Researchers since 2018.<ref name=”DrexelProfile”/> He is the author of ”MAX Phases: Properties of Machinable Carbides and Nitrides” (2013) and ”Fundamentals of Ceramics” (2nd ed., 2020).<ref name=”BarsoumCV”/>

Most recently Barsoum discovered a new universal mechanism – ripplocation – in the deformation of layered solids.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Aslin |first1=Joe |last2=Mariani |first2=Elisabetta |last3=Dawson |first3=Karl |last4=Barsoum |first4=Michel W. |title=Ripplocations provide a new mechanism for the deformation of phyllosilicates in the lithosphere |journal=Nature Communications |date=15 February 2019 |volume=10 |issue=1 |pages=686 |doi=10.1038/s41467-019-08587-2 |pmid=30770801 |pmc=6377708 |bibcode=2019NatCo..10..686A }}</ref>

== Research ==

With over 450 refereed publications and a Google h index > 100, his work has been highly and widely cited—57,684 times (Google Scholar). He has been on the Web of Science’s highly cited researchers list in 2018 and 2019. Barsoum is a foreign member of the Royal Swedish Society of Engineering Sciences, fellow of the American Ceramic Soc. and the World Academy of Ceramics. He is the author of the books, MAX Phases: Properties of Machinable Carbides and Nitrides, 2013, and Fundamentals of Ceramics, 2020, a textbook in second edition.

Barsoum’s research focuses on the synthesis, structure, and properties of layered and nanolaminated ceramics and carbides. He is widely recognized for his pioneering work on ”MAX phases”—a family of layered ternary carbides and nitrides that bridge the properties of metals and ceramics. In 1995, together with Tamer El-Raghy at Drexel University, Barsoum was the first to fabricate and fully characterize these phases, including Ti₃SiC₂ and related compounds.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Barsoum |first1=M. W. |last2=El-Raghy |first2=T. |title=The MAX Phases: Unique New Carbide and Nitride Materials |journal=American Scientist |volume=89 |issue=4 |pages=334–343 |year=2001 |doi=10.1511/2001.4.334}}</ref>

Barsoum was a recipient of a Chair of Excellence from the Nanosciences Foundation in Grenoble, France in 2017. In 2020, he was awarded the International Ceramics Prize for basic science by the World Academy of Ceramics, to be presented in Montecatini Terme, Italy 2021. This prize is awarded quadrennially and is one of the highest in his field. The prize was awarded for “… outstanding contribution in opening new horizons in material research and specifically for pioneering work in MAX phases and their derivatives.”

Building on this work, he co-discovered [[MXenes]]—two-dimensional carbides, nitrides, and carbonitrides derived from MAX phases. MXenes have found wide applications in [[energy storage]], electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding, and [[water purification]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Naguib |first1=M. |last2=Kurtoglu |first2=M. |last3=Barsoum |first3=M. W. |title=Two-dimensional nanocrystals produced by exfoliation of Ti₃AlC₂ |journal=Advanced Materials |volume=23 |issue=37 |pages=4248–4253 |year=2011 |doi=10.1002/adma.201102306}}</ref>

In addition to his work on MAX phases and MXenes, Barsoum has contributed to understanding deformation mechanisms in layered solids. He discovered ”ripplocations”, a new universal mechanism describing how atomic layers deform through localized out-of-plane distortions rather than conventional dislocation movement.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Barsoum |first1=M. W. |last2=Tucker |first2=G. J. |last3=Kalidindi |first3=S. R. |title=Deformation of layered solids: ripplocations |journal=Physical Review Letters |volume=111 |issue=4 |pages=045502 |year=2013 |doi=10.1103/PhysRevLett.111.045502}}</ref>

His more recent work includes the discovery of a novel one-dimensional form of titania with a core cross-section of 5×7 Å—the thinnest possible form of TiO₂—opening new directions in low-dimensional materials science.<ref name=”BarsoumCV”/>

==References==

==References==

American material scientist and engineer

Michel Barsoum (born January 1, 1955, Cairo, Egypt) is an American-Egyptian material scientist and engineer, currently a distinguished professor at Drexel University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in the field of materials science and engineering^[1] and also a published author. In 2009, he became the holder of the A. W. Grosvenor Professorship at Drexel.^[1]

Barsoum earned his Bachelor of Science degree in materials engineering, with highest honors, from The American University in Cairo in February 1977.^[2]
He received a Master of Science in ceramics engineering from the University of Missouri–Rolla (now Missouri University of Science and Technology) in June 1980,^[3]
and a Ph.D. in ceramics from the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in June 1985.^[3]

Michel W. Barsoum is a Distinguished Professor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at Drexel University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.^[2]

After earning his Ph.D. in ceramics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1985, he joined Drexel as an assistant professor. He was promoted to associate professor, and in 1997 became a full professor.^[3] Between 2009 and 2013, he held the A. W. Grosvenor Professorship, and in 1999 he was appointed Distinguished Professor, a title he continues to hold.^[2]

Barsoum has held numerous visiting and sabbatical appointments at international research institutions. These include the Max Planck Institute for Metal Research in Stuttgart, Germany (1993–1994; 2000–2001); Imperial College London (2015); the Institut polytechnique de Grenoble in France (2016); and the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico (2008–2009), where he was a Wheatley Scholar.^[3] He has also been affiliated with the University of Poitiers and the Commissariat à l’énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA) in France, and the Ningbo Institute of Materials Technology and Engineering in China.^[3] Since 2008, he has served as a Visiting Professor at Linköping University in Sweden.^[3]

Barsoum is a fellow of the American Ceramic Society and the World Academy of Ceramics, and a foreign member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences. He received the Humboldt Max Planck Research Award in 2000 and a Chair of Excellence from the Nanosciences Foundation in Grenoble, France, in 2017. In 2020, he was awarded the International Ceramics Prize for Basic Science “for outstanding contributions in opening new horizons in material research and specifically for pioneering work in MAX phases and their derivatives.”^[4]

With over 450 peer-reviewed publications and an h-index exceeding 100, Barsoum has been listed among the Clarivate Highly Cited Researchers since 2018.^[2] He is the author of MAX Phases: Properties of Machinable Carbides and Nitrides (2013) and Fundamentals of Ceramics (2nd ed., 2020).^[3]

Barsoum’s research focuses on the synthesis, structure, and properties of layered and nanolaminated ceramics and carbides. He is widely recognized for his pioneering work on MAX phases—a family of layered ternary carbides and nitrides that bridge the properties of metals and ceramics. In 1995, together with Tamer El-Raghy at Drexel University, Barsoum was the first to fabricate and fully characterize these phases, including Ti₃SiC₂ and related compounds.^[5]

Building on this work, he co-discovered MXenes—two-dimensional carbides, nitrides, and carbonitrides derived from MAX phases. MXenes have found wide applications in energy storage, electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding, and water purification.^[6]

In addition to his work on MAX phases and MXenes, Barsoum has contributed to understanding deformation mechanisms in layered solids. He discovered ripplocations, a new universal mechanism describing how atomic layers deform through localized out-of-plane distortions rather than conventional dislocation movement.^[7]

His more recent work includes the discovery of a novel one-dimensional form of titania with a core cross-section of 5×7 Å—the thinnest possible form of TiO₂—opening new directions in low-dimensional materials science.^[3]