June 16, 2017
Current technologies for Electric Vehicles and other applications that require high energy, power density, and long cycle life are limited to conventional Li-ion battery cell assembly and manufacturing. However, the energy density and safety of current batteries still needs to be improved to satisfy these requirements. Typical Li-ion batteries consist of organic electrolytes that are toxic, flammable, and pose significant safety concerns in the events of thermal runaway and improper operation and handling. In recent years, Dr. Wang’s group at the University of Maryland has explored advanced materials for Li-ion, Na-ion, Zn-ion and Mg-ion batteries and supercapacitors that address these key challenges. A new revolutionary concept of an aqueous based electrolyte for Li-ion batteries, termed water-in-salt electrolyte, has been developed, extending the electrochemical voltage stability window of aqueous electrolytes to 3V and significantly enhancing the energy density that can be attained with a water-based chemistry. Significant innovations have been accomplished in the area of solid-state batteries, where recently a technology that uses a single material in the entire solid state battery structure has been developed. Recently, Dr. Wang’s group has been collaborating with JHUAPL and ARL to extend these key technologies to DoD applications and systems. The talk will cover a transformational demonstration of a robust flexible Li-ion battery that can be cut open, exposed to air, and continue to operate despite the mechanical damage.
Dr. Chunsheng Wang is a Professor in the Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering department at the University of Maryland. He received his PhD in Materials Science & Engineering from Zhejiang University, China in 1995. Prior to joining University of Maryland in 2007, he was an assistant professor in Department of Chemical Engineering at Tennessee Technological University (TTU) from 2003-2007 and a research scientist in the Center for Electrochemical System and Hydrogen Research at Texas A&M University from 1998-2003. His research focuses on rechargeable batteries and fuel cells. He has published more than 160 papers in peer-reviewed journals including Science, Nature communications, JACS, Advanced Materials. His work has been cited for more than 8700 times with an H-index of 51 (ISI). His work on lithium batteries has been featured in NASA Tech Briefs, the EFRC/DoE newsletter, C&EN and elsewhere. Dr. Wang is the recipient of the A. James Clark School of Engineering Junior Faculty Outstanding Research Award in the University of Maryland in 2013, and winner of UMD’s invention of the Year for 2015.