Not all ionic crystal structures are equally stable. You'll learn what controls structural stability — from ionic radius ratios to charge balance — and how to predict which structure a given ionic compound will adopt. Four detailed lessons give you the tools to reason through stability problems with confidence.

You'll connect the foundational principles of packing and stability to specific, real-world ceramic crystal structures. This module also introduces a special topic — the transistor — showing how ceramic structure concepts extend into electronic materials. You'll build the ability to identify and interpret the structures that define ceramic behavior and function.

You'll learn how to track and visualize defect concentrations across a range of conditions using the Brouwer Diagram—a core tool in ceramic materials science. Starting with point defects, you'll build the conceptual and analytical skills to construct and interpret these diagrams for real ceramic systems.

Defects rarely act alone. You'll learn how defects in ceramic materials interact with each other and how those interactions affect material properties. The module also covers the Debye-Hückel correction—a key refinement that accounts for electrostatic interactions between charged defects in real systems.

You'll learn two powerful surface characterization techniques—Kelvin Probe Force Microscopy (KPFM) and Electrostatic Force Microscopy (EFM). This module covers how each technique works, what it measures, and how to interpret the data it produces. You'll build the skills to select and apply these tools when studying the electrical properties of ceramic surfaces.

You'll learn how atomic transport through ceramic materials is modeled at the continuum scale. This final module covers the governing equations of diffusion kinetics and shows how they apply to real ceramic systems.

You evaluate a candidate ceramic material being considered for use as a solid oxide fuel cell electrolyte. You justify its crystal structure and stability, model its defect chemistry with a Brouwer diagram, assess the reliability of that model, recommend a surface characterization method, and evaluate its transport behavior. You produce a single Material Qualification Report that integrates structural, defect-chemical, and transport analysis into one engineering recommendation.