Clean Energy Institute

The Clean Energy Institute Interdisciplinary Seminar Series was established to bring distinguished leaders in the field of clean energy to campus to present their research and meet students, postdocs, and faculty from departments across the Colleges of Arts & Sciences, Engineering, and the Environment.

Lecture Title:
An Integrated Science and Engineering Approach for Next-Generation Battery Materials and Technologies

Summary:
Electrochemical energy storage especially lithium-based battery technology enables electrification of the transportation sector and significantly improved stationary grid storage, hence is critical to developing clean-energy economy in the US. Today’s batteries are, however, mostly manufactured outside the US. Developing IP-retaining next-generation battery materials and technologies provides a unique opportunity to establish a strong domestic manufacturing footing. Identifying and addressing material challenges at industry-relevant scales and validation of new battery chemistries under realistic conditions critically determine the timeliness and success of materials development, manufacturing, and technology translation from academic research to industry applications in the US. There remains to be a large gap between academic research, materials scale-up/manufacturing, and device level performance optimization.

This talk will review the challenges, opportunities, and approaches for accelerating R&D and manufacturing processes of next generation materials and battery technologies. I will highlight the importance of interdisciplinary research in electrochemical energy storage and emphasize the necessity to identify and address scientific challenges at relevant scales/conditions. Two specific examples will be discussed: (1) an integrated electrochemistry and engineering approach to utilize lithium metal anode and enable high-energy rechargeable lithium metal battery, (2) the study of single crystal Ni-rich cathode for Li-ion and Li metal batteries. Scaling up single crystal cathode will be used as an example to shed some light on the importance of integrated science and engineering methodology for battery materials development and manufacturing.

About the Speaker:
Dr.Jie Xiao is a Boeing Martin Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering of University of Washington. She also holds a joint appointment as a Battelle Fellow at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL). Dr. Xiao’s research spans from fundamental research, battery materials scaleup and manufacturing, to cell fabrication and engineering for vehicle electrification, sensors, and grid energy storage. Dr. Xiao currently serves as the Deputy Director of DOE’s Innovation Center for Battery500 Consortium to develop next-generation lithium metal batteries for electrical vehicles. She also directs the Cathode-Electrolyte Interphase (CEI) Consortium which focuses on integrating scientific tools, across national labs, to identify and address interfacial challenges initiating on cathode surfaces, along with cross validating all new findings at industry-relevant scales. Dr.Xiao has been named top 1% Clarivate Analytics Highly Cited Researcher since 2017. She holds eighteen patents in energy storage and seven of them have been licensed to industry.