Brian C Sales

Bio

Deputy Lead on Substitutes for the Critical Materials Institute Hub
Adjunct Professor, University of Tennessee

Dr. Sales obtained his PhD in 1974 in condensed matter physics from the University of California at San Diego. His thesis advisor was Bernd Matthias. He joined the staff at ORNL in 1981. Dr. Sales has over 40 years of experience with the synthesis and characterization of unusual electronic and magnetic materials, particularly those involving rare-earth elements. Dr. Sales has authored more than 350 papers, six patents and five book chapters. His work has been cited more than 22,000 times and his current h number is 75 (Google Scholar-July 1, 2015). Fifty of his papers have been cited more than 100 times, and Sales is the first author on 13 of those. The highly cited papers are on new thermoelectric materials, superconductivity, unusual magnetic phenomena, oscillatory catalytic reactions, batteries, and nuclear waste storage. Sales has also worked on materials for the disposal of nuclear waste, developed techniques for measuring intermediate range order in phosphate glasses, and contributed to our understanding of the role of phosphate in biopoesis, and the role of glass forming liquids in the cryopreservation of drosophila.

Areas of Research: thermoelectrics, magnetism, superconductivity, crystal growth, inorganic synthesis