Imagine Better Batteries for Solar Panels, Electric Cars, Commercial Flights and More

Cornell University joins the 5-year second phase of the Joint Center for Energy Storage Research (JCESR), an interdisciplinary project aimed at realizing next-generation batteries. Professor Geoffrey W. Coates, Tisch University Professor in the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology will coordinate research of polymerics that go into batteries.

Founded in 2012, JCESR, one of the Department of Energy (DOE) Energy Innovation Hubs, aims to design and build transformative materials enabling next-generation batteries that satisfy all performance metrics for a given application. It looks to innovate the design and building of materials from the bottom up, “atom-by-atom and molecule-by-molecule, where each atom or molecule plays a role in producing targeted overall materials behavior.”

JCESR involves more than 150 researchers across 18 institutions, spanning fundamental materials science to engineering expertise. JCESR also runs an affiliate program that brings together more than 100 small and large businesses, non-profits, universities and national laboratories to further promote public private partnerships.
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 “By designing and building new polymers with molecular precision, we will enable new batteries that charge faster, last longer and are safer than current technologies, said Coates in a University news story.
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The Coates Research Group studies the development of novel synthetic strategies for producing polymers of defined structure, including benign polymers and chemical synthesis, use of renewable resources and materials for safe and economical energy storage and conversion.

Works Consulted
Cornell University. The Department of Chemistry & Chemical Biology. Cornell joins battery research partnership. Accessed November 1, 2018.
Joint Center for Energy Storage Research. Accessed November 1, 2018.