Event
ChBE Seminar: Battery Life and Critical Materials for Energy Transition
Monday, April 18, 2022
10:00 a.m.
Virtual, via Zoom
Chen Zhang
czhang71@umd.edu
https://chbe.umd.edu/seminar-series
Speaker: Alan C. West, Prof. of Chemical Engineering & Earth/Environmental Engineering, Columbia University
Title: Battery Life and Critical Materials for Energy Transition
Abstract: The outsized role of electrochemical technologies in climate change mitigation is reviewed. Two technical topics are discussed in more detail. Methods for understanding capacity fade are discussed within the context of deploying physics based models to analyze electrochemical, operando, and materials characterization studies. Furthermore the use of machine learning to improve the efficiency of data handling is demonstrated. The second technical topic focuses on the need for critical materials for the energy transition, including environmental impacts and supply chain issues. A technology from our lab that may allow for increased domestic production of copper metal is discussed.
Bio:
Alan C. West is the Samuel Ruben-Peter G. Viele Professor of Electrochemistry in the Departments of Chemical Engineering and Earth and Environmental Engineering at Columbia University. He is also former Department Chair and co-director of the Columbia Electrochemical Energy Center. West's group focuses on electrochemical technologies such as batteries, extractive metallurgy, and electrodeposition. A focus of his research is understand transport and reaction mechanisms by experiment, theory, and simulation, with a goal to design and optimize for applications that can help mitigate climate change.
