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In his keynote, Professor and Nobel Laureate Stanley Whittingham traces the 50-year evolution of lithium batteries, highlighting challenges and advancements. He emphasizes the need for a sustainable ecosystem and regional manufacturing for the battery industry's future.

Stanley Whittingham

Dr. Whittingham is a professor of chemistry at Binghamton University. He received a DPhil in chemistry, as well as an MA and a BA, from Oxford University. In 2019, he received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his development of lithium-ion batteries. 

Professor Louis Piper discussed fundamental research on battery materials, emphasizing the importance of understanding charge compensation mechanisms and utilizing techniques from condensed matter physics. He presents operando measurements on pouch cells, focusing on kinetics, coatings, and additives' effects on performance and degradation. Collaboration and workforce development are highlighted.
 

Louis Piper

Dr. Piper is the Professor of Battery Innovation and heads the Electrochemical Materials Group in the Energy Directorate at WMG, the University of Warwick. He co-leads the Faraday Institution Degradation Phase II project focusing on understanding how to improve capacity retention in state-of-art Ni-rich and phosphate chemistries.

Professor William Chueh's keynote highlighted advanced characterizations and mechanics in electrochemistry for sustainable, safe, and energy-dense batteries. Three examples were provided: understanding phase transitions in lithium iron phosphate, studying short-circuiting in garnet-based solid electrolytes, and investigating lithium plating on copper for energy-dense batteries. Key goals included quantification, capturing dynamics, considering ensemble behavior, and integrating multi-properties

William Chueh

Dr. Chueh is an associate professor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at Stanford University, a senior fellow of the Precourt Institute for Energy at Stanford University, and a faculty scientist at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory. He leads a group of more than thirty researchers tackling the challenge of decarbonizing various energy transformation pathways and directs SLAC-Stanford Battery Center and Stanford's StorageX Initiative that builds academic-industrial partnerships to accelerate the electrification of transportation and the penetration of intermittent renewable electricity in energy systems. He received his BS in applied physics and his MS and PhD in materials science from Caltech. 

Professor Zheng Chen's keynote highlighted the importance of direct recycling for battery materials, focusing on iron phosphate and spinel structures. By leveraging benign processes, they aim to return materials to their original state, reducing environmental impact and improving battery performance.

Zheng Chen

Dr. Chen is an associate professor in the Department of Nano and Chemical Engineering and the Materials Science and Engineering program at UC San Diego. His research group focuses on sustainable materials and energy storage devices, including high energy cathodes, silicon/Li anodes, batteries for extreme environments, solid-state batteries, next-generation battery recycling, and future manufacturing processes.

Dr. Meng Jiang's keynote outlined the US Advanced Battery Consortium’s (USABC) role in advancing battery technology for automotive applications through a public-private partnership. They focus on cost reduction and energy density improvement, highlighting programs with Farasis, Ionblox, Nanoramic, Amprius, and WPI's recycling technology. Future goals include lithium metal batteries and sustainability.
 

Meng Jiang

Dr. Jiang is a staff researcher at GM R&D, where she actively contributes to advancing research and development efforts for lithium ion battery development. Additionally, she serves as the chair of the Technical Advisory Committee at the US Advanced Battery Consortium. She earned her Ph.D. in solid chemistry from Stony Brook University. Over the course of the last two decades, she has dedicated her career to the exploration and enhancement of lithium-ion batteries. 

Dr. Jim Cushing, representing Applied Materials, discussed the company's focus on ultra-thin lithium films for battery applications, aiming to scale production to gigawatt levels. He outlined the journey from research to fab scale, emphasizing market understanding, technical innovation, and equipment development. Challenges include site selection, lithium sourcing, regulations, and ongoing technical refinement, with plans to start production by early 2025.
 

Jim Cushing

Dr. Cushing is passionate about renewable energy solutions and advancing the energy transition. He has over three decades of experience in the energy, solar, semiconductor, and display industries, while managing teams of 200 people to grow businesses over $1B. Jim is on the NAATBatt International Board and the Advisory Board for New Energy New York.

Dr. Ray Holzworth, representing QuantumScape, discussed lithium-free anode development for solid-state batteries. Emphasizing the benefits of lithium metal anodes, he explained QuantumScape's approach and presented various technologies tried in the industry, highlighting their limitations. Holzworth advocated for anode-free designs, citing cost reduction and improved performance. QuantumScape's solid-state cell, capable of 800 cycles at atmospheric pressure, demonstrates potential for both automotive and consumer electronics applications.
 

Ray Holzworth

Dr. Holzworth received his PhD in materials science and engineering from the University of Florida in 2013. He also earned a B.S. in materials science and engineering from the University of Florida (2007) and a M.S. in materials science and engineering from the University of Florida (2009).  He joined QuantumScape in 2014 and currently serves as the Director of Microscopy where he learns and collaborates alongside a world-class team dedicated to the mission of making advanced batteries that enable long-range, high-performance, mass-market electric vehicles.

Dr. Wan Si Tang, representing the Electrochemical Safety Research Institute (ESRI) within UL Research Institutes, discussed materials characterization methods for battery applications, highlighting safety research, simulation, outreach, and standards, as well as ongoing projects focusing on novel energy forms and collaborations with academic institutions.

Wan Si Tang

Dr. Wan Tang is the Director of Research, Novel Materials and New Energy Forms, at the Electrochemical Safety Research Institute (ESRI). She is an experimental materials chemist with proficiency in industry-standard advanced battery prototype fabrication processes and expertise in synthesis and characterization techniques for novel functional materials pertaining to practical energy storage and conversion applications. Her international academia research background focused on different hydrides for hydrogen storage, electrochemical cells (silicon anode and solid-state electrolytes), and solar cell photocatalysis. Prior to joining UL Research Institutes, Wan Si was the Advanced Battery Manufacturing Team Leader at the Battery Innovation Center (BIC).

Dr. Xiaolin Li, from Pacific Northwest National Lab, discussed materials research for batteries, emphasizing structural characterization's role in development. Highlights include silicon material design, mechanical strength testing, and SEI growth analysis for lithium and sodium-ion batteries. Collaboration with various institutions enhances research outcomes.

Xiaolin Li

Dr. Li received his PhD in chemistry at Tsinghua University in 2005. He worked on controlled synthesis of functional nanostructures/nanomaterials. After his postdoctoral research at Stanford University working on graphene and carbon nanotubes for nanoelectronics and bio-applications, Li joined Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) as a scientist to work on batteries. Li currently is a senior scientist and team leader of the Battery Development and Reliability Group at PNNL. He is known for the development of porous Si-based anode materials for Li-ion batteries and the work on sodium-ion and rechargeable aqueous zinc batteries for grid storage applications.

Dr. Minghao Zhang focused on electron microscopy in battery research, emphasizing the necessity of cryogenic techniques and correlative characterization. He highlighted his group's work with Dr. Zhao Liu from Thermo Fisher Scientific, showcasing advancements in lithium and sodium battery characterization.

Minghao Zhang

Dr. Zhang received his PhD in materials science and engineering from UC San Diego in 2017. He earned his BS in physics from Nankai University (2009) and MS in materials physics and chemistry from Chinese Academy of Sciences (2012). He worked as a postdoc research fellow since 2018 and became a project scientist at UC San Diego in 2020. Minghao received the Battery Division Postdoctoral Associate Research Award of The Electrochemical Society (ECS) in 2019.

Professor David Muller presented ptychography and EELS for lithium imaging, detailing high-resolution methods and chemical analysis in battery materials. He identified vacancies, studied bonding, and showed potential for understanding battery behavior and improving performance.

David Muller

Dr. Muller is the Samuel B. Eckert Professor of Engineering in the School of Applied and Engineering Physics at Cornell University, and co-director of the Kavli Institute for Nanoscale Science at Cornell. Muller received his BSc from the University of Sydney, his PhD in physics from Cornell, and was a research scientist at Bell Labs from 1997 to 2003. His research interests include new electron microscopy methods for the atomic-scale control and characterization of matter, including renewable energy applications.

Dr. Miaofang Chi's keynote highlighted the significance of electron microscopy in battery research, emphasizing the role of interfaces. EELS spectroscopy provides crucial insights into chemical reactions and conductivity, aiding in optimizing battery performance.

Miaofang Chi

Dr. Chi is a distinguished scientist at the Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences (CNMS) at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL). She received her PhD in materials science and engineering from University of California, Davis, in 2008. Her primary research interests lie in advancing and applying novel electron microscopy techniques in energy and nanotechnology research, especially in understanding interfacial ion transport and charge transfer behavior in energy and quantum materials.

Dr. Maria Chan emphasized integrating modeling and data-driven approaches for characterizing materials. Topics included molecular dynamic simulations, machine learning analysis of X-ray spectra, and generative AI models for predicting atomic structures, with an eye toward experimental validation and literature knowledge extraction

Maria Chan

Dr. Chan obtained her BSc in physics and applied mathematics from UCLA and PhD in physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Since 2012, Dr. Chan has been a staff scientist at the Center of Nanoscale Materials, part of Argonne National Laboratory near Chicago. Dr. Chan's research focuses on the computational characterization of renewable energy materials, using first principles, atomistic, and machine learning methods. She also works on the integration of experimental characterization and computational modeling using artificial intelligence and machine learning approaches. She has joint appointments at Northwestern University and the University of Chicago and is an associate editor at ACS Chemistry of Materials.

Dr. Marca Doeff advocated diversifying beyond lithium-ion batteries, emphasizing sodium-ion alternatives. She discussed research on sodium titanate anodes and efforts to develop cathodes for solid-state batteries using LLZO electrolytes.

Marca Doeff

Dr. Doeff is a senior scientist and deputy division director of the Energy Storage and Distributed Resources Division at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. She received her BA in chemistry from Swarthmore College in 1978 and a PhD in inorganic chemistry from Brown University in 1983. She joined Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in 1990, where she began researching batteries for electric vehicle applications. Her current research, funded by the U.S. Department of Energy and California Energy Commission focuses on materials for lithium-ion batteries, sodium-ion batteries, and solid-state batteries and she has published and patented extensively in these areas. 

Professor Yan Yao's keynote focused on solid-state batteries, highlighting analytical tools to understand failure mechanisms and improve performance, covering challenges, interface dynamics, processing methods, and performance enhancement strategies.

Yan Yao

Dr. Yao is Hugh Roy and Lillie Cranz Cullen Distinguished Professor at the University of Houston. He received his PhD in materials science and engineering from UCLA in 2008 and completed postdoctoral studies at Stanford University after two years industrial experience. He began his career at the University of Houston in 2012 and was promoted to full professor in 2020. His research focuses on developing innovative materials and chemistries from low-cost, abundant resources.

Professor Dan Steingart's keynote highlighted the importance of fast data analysis and collaboration in battery research. He introduced acoustic methods for detecting battery failures, discussed the challenges of lithium deposition during fast charging, and presented tools for in operando formation monitoring in anode-free systems. Steingart emphasized the need for bridging tools between lab-scale experiments and industrial applications to ensure accurate estimation and prevent dangerous failures.

Dan Steingart

Dr. Steingart is the Stanley Thompson Professor of Chemical Metallurgy and Chemical Engineering and the co-director of the Columbia Electrochemical Energy Center. His group studies the systematic behaviors of material deposition, conversion, and dissolution in electrochemical reactors, focusing on energy storage devices. His current research exploits traditional failure mechanisms and interactions in batteries and materials production, turning unwanted behaviors into beneficial mechanisms. 

Dr. Chengcheng Fang's keynote focused on developing liquid electrolytes for lithium-ion and lithium metal batteries. She highlighted advanced characterization, electrolyte engineering, and a hybrid lithium-ion and lithium metal battery concept.

Chengcheng Fang

Dr. Fang is an assistant professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science at Michigan State University since 2020. She received her PhD in materials science and engineering from University of California San Diego in 2019 with Professor Shirley Meng. She obtained her master of philosophy in innovative technologies leadership from Hong Kong University of Science and Technology in 2015. She received her BS in materials science and engineering from Zhejiang University in 2012. Her research focuses on developing multiscale quantitative characterization tools and designing advanced materials and manufacturing methods for next-generation energy storage devices. 

Dr. Enyuan Hu's keynote focused on lessons from synchrotron studies in battery research. He discussed optimizing NMC stoichiometry for better Coulombic efficiency, structural insights into oxygen release, stabilizing lithium metal interfaces, and characterizing sulfur in batteries using PDF analysis.

Enyuan Hu

Dr. Hu is an associate chemist and a principal investigator (PI) in the Chemistry Division of the Brookhaven National Laboratory, working on advanced battery material development and characterizations. He obtained his PhD in mechanical engineering from Stony Brook University and his bachelor degree from Southeast University in China. He has been the leading PI of several DOE projects and serves as a co-PI in the Battery500 Consortium. He is a Calrivate Highly Cited Researcher in 2022 and was awarded the International Battery Association (IBA) Early Career Award in 2023.

In her keynote, Dr. Wendy Zhou highlighted Umicore's focus on clean mobility materials, especially in batteries. She stressed innovation, collaboration, and solid-state battery development. Zhou presented a roadmap for cost-effective, sustainable product development and expressed a wishlist for improved characterization tools, urging industry-research collaboration.

Wendy Zhou

Dr. Wendy Zhou brings more than 25 years of battery material experience with different job functions at Umicore including eight years in research and development of cathode material as project manager, three years in joint venture of cathode manufacture as deputy general manager, and nine years in technology marketing and development as senior technology and commercial manager in NA. Currently, she is the senior regional open innovation manager for North America and Great China, where she is responsible for identifying and analyzing new technologies and quantifying new market opportunities for Umicore, seeking interaction with emerging technology sources, and leading battery material innovation projects with partners in NA&CN.