Abstract

Rechargeable batteries have been a great success in powering consumer electronics. There has been a recent strong interest in applying rechargeable batteries to vehicle electrification and grid- scale storage. Novel battery chemistries are necessary for enabling these opportunities although they also present significant fundamental materials challenges. Here I will present the exciting progress in my group for the past decade on exploring nanomaterials design to address these challenges. Examples include: 1) High capacity battery electrode materials such as Si, Li metal and P anodes and S cathodes; 2) Low-cost grid scale energy storage chemistries: Li polysulfide and Prussian blue open framework materials; 3) Smart battery separators for safety enhancement. Based on the principle of battery reaction, we discovered that it can be used as a powerful way to electrochemically tune electrocatalysts, resulting in significant improvement of catalytic activity for hydrogen and oxygen evolution reactions.