Next Generation Materials as the Foundation for Future Li-Ion Batteries

Presented on December 14, 2021 from 12:00 p.m.-1:00 p.m. in the Marcus Nanotechnology Building, Rooms 1116-1118, Georgia Tech, Atlanta, GA.Gleb Yushin is a Professor and Mifflin Hood Chair in the School of Materials Science and Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology and an Editor-in-Chief of Materials Today, the flagship journal of the Materials Today family (150+ journals) dedicated to covering the most innovative, cutting edge and influential work of broad interest to the materials science community. Prof. Yushin is also a co-founder and CTO of a Georgia Tech startup Sila Nanotechnologies, Inc., an advanced battery materials company currently employing nearly 300 people and valued at over $3B. Prof. Yushin pioneered transformative developments of advanced materials for next generation rechargeable batteries for clean energy and transportation. Prof. Yushin was selected to become a recipient of the Outstanding Achievement in Research Innovation Award by Georgia Tech (2019), was a finalist and Honoree of the Blavatnik Award for Young Scientists by the New York Academy of Sciences (2017, 2018), is distinguished as one of the “Leading and Most Cited Researchers in Sciences Around the World” by Clarivate Analytics (2017-2021), and was elected to the Hall of Fame of his alma mater (NCSU, College of Engineering, MSE, 2018). Prof. Yushin is a Fellow of the EU Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Inventors, the Materials Research Society, and The Electrochemical Society. Prof. Yushin holds over 140 US and international patents and patent applications, has given over 140 invited and keynote presentations, and has published over 160 highly impactful papers that have been cited over 35,000 times.Runtime: 57:50 minutesDuring the last 30 years the evolutionary improvements in lithium-ion battery (LIB) technologies increased LIB volumetric and gravimetric energy densities by over 3 times and reduced cell price by up to 50 times. As a result, LIBs mostly replaced other rechargeable battery technologies for most portable applications. To accelerate the transition to renewable energy economy and electric transportation the cost of LIBs should be reduced rapidly and drastically, from the current $100-200 kWh-1 to below $50 kWh-1. This can become feasible if traditional intercalation-type active electrode materials in LIB construction are replaced with low-cost, broadly available, high-capacity conversion-type active materials. Unfortunately, conversion active materials suffer from multiple limitations, such as large volume changes, low conductivity, and unfavorable interactions with liquid electrolytes, commonly leading to low attainable energy density, significant impedance growth, rapid capacity decay and premature cell failure. In my invited talk I will discuss the key materials’ challenges and provide examples to overcome these. For industrial applications, synthesis methods need to additionally be inexpensive at scale and rely on the use of low-cost, broadly available precursors. Finally, it is important that novel materials remain fully compatible with currently operating and planned LIB factories to enable their successful commercialization