RESEARCH

Our aim is to build better energy storage and generation devices by designing better materials. We largely focus on batteries and electrochemical synthesis. Our research can be sorted into three main sectors: New materials for higher efficiency and safer energy storage and generation, scaling up these materials from lab to market, and finally, understanding the degradation of these materials in practical working conditions to extend the life of the devices.

 

Some of our current projects

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MXenes are a new family of two-dimensional (2D) inorganic transition metal carbides and/or nitrides. MXenes combine the unique combination of metallic conductivity and hydrophilicity with 2D morphology, which makes them different from other energy storage materials such as carbons and metal oxides. The reversible nature of transition metal redox reactions and open interlayer spacings with natural affinity towards cations are some of the unique aspects that bring high interest in MXenes for energy storage applications.

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Inherent transitional metal defects and a large variety of transition metals that can be incorporated into the MXene structure enable their use as catalysts for nitrogen fixation and water splitting applications, which allow future hydrogen and oxygen fuel cell technologies. Since MXenes offer catalytic sites throughout the basal planes, their catalytic properties are superior compared to 2D metal sulfides/selenides.

 

We try to understand the working and failure mechanisms of materials used in various energy systems. Once these processes are elucidated, we work on avoiding them to mitigate failure in the future. To achieve this, we plan to develop an array of in-operando techniques to analyze our materials while they are in operation. Our techniques help solve problems in current systems that are already commercial and future materials systems that are still under research in our lab. We collaborate with our industry partners for these projects.

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With our industry partners, we also try to scale next-generation materials from lab scale to commercial scale. During scaling up new material, we design our process around potential supply chain issues of raw materials needed, reducing or simplifying processing to bring the final cost down and make bulk synthesis feasible, optimizing processing parameters from material synthesis to device assembly to maximize efficiency. We also work with stakeholders at various levels in the supply chain to make a completely indigenous battery, from raw material synthesis to final cell assembly.