Materials Science Research Lecture

Abstract: Next generation battery chemistry beyond the intercalation mechanisms employed in conventional Li-ion batteries will allow electric cars to drive farther and mobile electronics to last longer. This talk will explore the fundamental processes that control the electrochemical performance of next generation battery chemistries including Li-S and Mg metal batteries. New insight into the reduction and oxidation mechanisms in these electrochemical devices allows for the development of useful structure-property relationships and informs the design of new battery materials. We will explore nearly every aspect of the battery including reactions that occur in the solid-state, processes governing electron transfer at the solid-liquid interface, and the solvation structure of the active cations in liquid electrolyte solutions.
 

More about the speaker: Kimberly A. See is an Assistant Professor of Chemistry in the Chemistry and Chemical Engineering Division at Caltech. She received her B.S. in Chemistry from the Colorado School of Mines in 2009 where she worked with Drs. John Turner and Todd Deutsch at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory on photoelectrochemical water splitting. Following a year at the University of Colorado working with Prof. Gordana Dukovic on zinc oxide nanoparticle synthesis and a year in industry at NuSil Technology working on high refractive index silicones, Kim went to the University of California, Santa Barbara for her Ph.D. She worked with Profs. Ram Seshadri and Galen Stucky on next-generation batteries and received her Ph.D. in 2014. Kim was then awarded the St. Elmo Brady Future Faculty Postdoctoral Fellowship at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and worked with Prof. Andrew Gewirth in the Department of Chemistry until the fall of 2017. Her postdoctoral work focused on the solvation structure of active cations in electrolyte solutions for Li-S and Mg batteries. Kim is excited to be at Caltech and is interested in understanding and manipulating the fundamental processes that control the electrochemical performance of energy storage materials.

***Refreshments served at 3:30pm in Spalding Laboratory  Lobby.