Advanced Materials for Energy Storage

Batteries are central to fundamental changes in transportation through electric vehicles, in the electricity grid through renewable energy integration, replacement of natural gas peaker plants and customized electricity service, and in electric flight through drones, air taxis, package delivery and short-haul passenger service. Nest generation batteries to meet these diverse applications require new high-performance materials for anodes, cathodes, electrolytes and interfaces. Using new approaches for simulation and characterization at the atomic and molecular level, these materials can now be designed from the bottom up, atom-by-atom and molecule-by-molecule, where each atom or molecule plays a prescribed role in producing targeted overall materials behavior. Examples will be given for advanced materials for several beyond-lithium-ion batteries.