October 18, 2016, Accomplishments

Scientific Sprints: Speed Through Collaboration

As an innovative twist on traditional project management, JCESR conducts “Sprints,” small teams of dedicated researchers formed to solve a select research challenge within 1-6 months. Using the Sprint approach, JCESR takes a single question from our catalog of prioritized scientific challenges and dedicates a small, multidisciplinary team of 5-15 members to answer it. Read More

March 28, 2016, Accomplishments

The Electrochemical Discovery Laboratory

The Electrochemical Discovery Laboratory (EDL) — a key JCESR discovery tool located at Argonne — synthesizes high-quality materials for testing in beyond-lithium-ion batteries and characterizes their properties with state-of-the-art analytical techniques. Read More

March 28, 2016, Accomplishments

The Electrolyte Genome Project

Traditional chemistry relies on intuition and experience to select a few materials that might work well for new electrolytes. The Electrolyte Genome streamlines this process by evaluating thousands of materials by simulation on the computer and choosing the most promising few for synthesis in the laboratory. Read More

February 29, 2016, Accomplishments

Water as a Catalyst – Improving how Batteries Function

Anyone who has ever dropped a cell phone in the sink will tell you that electrical devices and water do not go together. However, a new study has shown that conventional wisdom may not hold on the molecular scale in some beyond-lithium-ion batteries. Read More

October 22, 2015, Accomplishments

Techno-Economic Modeling -- Building New Battery Systems on the Computer

JCESR is applying techno-economic models to project the performance and cost of a wide array of promising new battery systems before they are prototyped. The results from techno-economic modeling establish performance “floors” for discovery science teams looking for new anodes, cathodes, and electrolytes for a beyond lithium-ion battery, identifying those with the potential to meet JCESR’s goal and rejecting those unlikely to be effective. Read More

October 22, 2015, Accomplishments

Fitting the Lithium-Sulfur Battery with a New Membrane

The lithium-sulfur battery has higher energy storage capacity and lower cost than lithium ion. But there is a serious stumbling block. Polysulfides form in the cathode during battery cycling and pass through the membrane to contaminate the lithium metal anode. This results in a rapid decline in performance. JCESR researchers appear to have found a solution to the problem – the “polymer of intrinsic microporosity” (PIM). Read More