Battery Day 2024: Advancements in sustainable, next-generation technology
Scientists and engineers at the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering (PME) are advancing new research on battery technology, forging a pathway to a clean, sustainable energy future.
In recognition of National Battery Day on Feb. 18, read more about the latest developments:
UChicago engineer driving key role in Great Lakes water transformation
The award will be used in part to recycle used water, creating a clean water resource, and also to transform filtered-out waste metals into new types of batteries that help power the nation’s switch to clean energy.
“Water is needed everywhere for daily life. For manufacturing in particular, it is critical to our economic prosperity. But water is limited in supply, especially freshwater,” said Prof. Junhong Chen, the co-Principal Investigator and Use-Inspired R&D Lead for Great Lakes ReNEW. “The only way to get us out of this challenge is to be able to recycle and reuse the water.”
Researchers advance lithium-metal batteries, paving the way for safer, more powerful devices
The boom in phones, laptops, and other personal devices over the last few decades has been made possible by the lithium-ion (Li-ion) battery, but as climate change demands more powerful batteries for electric vehicles and grid-scale renewable storage, lithium-ion technology might not be enough.
Lithium-metal batteries (LMBs) have theoretical capacities an order of magnitude greater than lithium-ion, but a more literal boom has stymied research for decades.
“A compounding challenge that further doomed the first wave of LMB commercialization in the late 1980s was their propensity to explode,” Asst. Prof. Chibueze Amanchukwu wrote in a recent study.
That study, published in Matter, outlines a way around this decades-old problem, using solvent-free inorganic molten salts to create energy-dense, safe batteries, opening new possibilities for EVs and grid scale renewable energy storage.
Leading battery expert Shirley Meng dares to hope for a renewable energy future at TEDxChicago
Electric cars that drive for 500 miles on a six-minute charge. Neighborhoods where battery storage systems are as ubiquitous as refrigerators. A combination of lithium-metal, sodium, solid-state and flow batteries filling the massive energy storage gap in a way that promotes both the environment and social issues.
“It is not a dream,” Prof. Y. Shirley Meng told a packed house at the Harris Theater for Music and Dance in downtown Chicago. “It is a reality that we already are working on.”
Meng presented what she called “the case for hope” as part of the independently organized, local nonprofit lecture series TEDxChicago. This year’s theme was “We Dare.”
“Chicago has always been a daring city,” Attendee Experience Lead Kelly Fernandez told the assembled crowd. “We dare to dream. We dare to disrupt. We dare to defy the odds.”
Meng dares to hope. Facing the devastating realities of global climate change, Meng shared some of her impressive work at UChicago’s Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering, at the Laboratory for Energy Storage and Conversion and as chief scientist for the Argonne Collaborative Center for Energy Storage Science to present a comprehensive and achievable pathway to a clean, sustainable energy future.