February 1
@
12:20 PM
–
1:20 PM
Materials Science Seminar Series presents Dr. Yan Yao on Thursday, February 1, from 12:20 to 1:20 p.m. The seminar is hosted by Professor Dawei Feng and will be held in MS&E building room 265. Dr. Yan Yao be discussing Materials Innovation for Multivalent and Solid-state Batteries.
Abstract
The global clean energy industry relies heavily on lithium-ion batteries. As electric vehicles and grid energy storage continue to gain market share, the United States is expected to increasingly rely on imported raw materials (nickel and lithium) for lithium-ion batteries due to the lack of domestic production. As a result, innovative battery chemistry that goes beyond lithium-ion is needed, as well as the discovery and design of new materials that can be domestically produced and used to make safe, sustainable, fast-charging batteries at gigawatt scale. In this seminar, I will begin with an overview of organic battery electrode materials made from abundant elements. I’ll demonstrate how organic materials can offer unique advantages in magnesium and solid-state batteries. For Mg batteries, organic electrode materials address the challenge of sluggish divalent cation dissociation and diffusion through a heterogeneous enolization chemistry that involves carbonyl reduction. In solid-state batteries, soft organic crystals maintain intimate interfacial contact with solid electrolytes, even after thousands of cycles under low stacking pressure. Second, I will discuss a low-cost, easy-to-fabricate oxysulfide glass solid electrolyte that exhibits electrochemical stability against Na metal. I will conclude my talk by introducing an operando diagnostic platform that elucidates the role of an interlayer between lithium metal anode and solid electrolyte in mitigating lithium dendrite formation at high charging rates.
Bio
Yan Yao earned his Ph.D. in Materials Science and Engineering from UCLA in 2008, with a focus on organic photovoltaic devices. He then joined Polyera Corporation as a senior scientist, leading developments of polymeric materials and device integration. From 2010 to 2012, he conducted postdoctoral research at Stanford University, where he worked on various energy storage technologies using nanomaterials and nanostructures. He is currently the Hugh Roy and Lillie Cranz Cullen Distinguished Professor at the University of Houston. His research bridges electrochemistry with materials design and synthesis, with a focus on beyond lithium-ion battery chemistries. Dr. Yao has published over 150 research papers and delivered more than 180 invited lectures. He holds 12 issued U.S. patents and has co-founded two start-ups. He serves as the Principal Investigator for several core battery programs, including the Battery500 Consortium, the Vehicle Technology Office’s Battery Materials Research program, the Basic Energy Science’s Battery Hub, and three ARPA-E projects. He has received numerous awards, including the Texas Academic Leadership Academy Fellow (2023), Senior Faculty Research Excellence Award from the University of Houston (2022), Highly Cited Researchers list by Clarivate Analytics (2021), Scialog Fellow on Advanced Energy Storage (2017), and the Office of Naval Research Young Investigator Award (2013). He is an elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry (UK) and a senior member of both the National Academy of Inventors and the IEEE.
Materials Science Seminar Series – Speaker Dr. Yan Yao