Linda Nazar: Energy Materials & Climate Change

Energy Materials and Climate Change
August 11, 2011
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

The widespread integration of renewable, intermittent energy sources such as wind or solar is dependent upon the development of efficient large-scale energy storage systems for load-leveling the electric grid. Similarly, the acceptance of plug-in hybrid electric — and especially pure electric vehicles — hinges on the availability of intermediate scale, safe, low-cost energy storage batteries to provide driving ranges that exceed the psychological barrier of 100 miles. The first part of the talk will present a perspective of energy storage systems based on Li-ion batteries, and a synopsis of their fundamental chemical and materials science basis. The challenges, opportunities and perceived limits for future improvements will be presented, including storage devices that go beyond Li-ion. In particular, significant advances are possible through the exploitation of nanoporous materials and these will be highlighted in the second part.

Linda Nazar

Canada Research Chair
Department of Chemistry
University of Waterloo

Linda Nazar is a Professor of Chemistry and Electrical Engineering at the University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada and holds a Senior Canada Research Chair in Solid State Materials. Prior to that, she received her Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of Toronto, and joined Exxon Corporate Research (Annandale, N.J.) as a post-doctoral fellow. She was awarded the Electrochemistry Society Battery Research award in 2009, and was the 2010 Moore Distinguished Scholar at the California Institute of Technology. She is also the winner of the Rio Tinto Alcan Award (CSC) in 2011 for her work in inorganic electrochemistry. Her research is focused on materials for energy storage and conversion, with research spanning Li-ion and Na-ion batteries, Li-sulfur and Li-air batteries, and fuel cell catalysts.