Y. Shirley Meng
The University of Chicago
From Atom to System—Tera-Scale Energy Transition with Better Batteries
High energy long life rechargeable battery is considered as key enabling technology for deep de-carbonization. Energy storage in the electrochemical form is attractive because of its high efficiency and fast response time. Besides the technological importance, electrochemical devices also provide a unique platform for fundamental and applied materials research since ion movement is often accompanied by inherent complex phenomena related to phase changes, electronic structure changes and defect generation. In this seminar, Meng discussed a few new perspectives for energy storage materials including new fast ion conductors, new intercalation compounds and their interfacial engineering. With recent advances in characterization tools and computational methods, we are able to explore ionic mobility, charge transfer and phase transformations in electrode materials in-operando, and map out the structure-properties relations in functional materials for next generation energy storage and conversion. Meng also discussed a few future priority research directions for electrochemical energy storage.