By Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) seeks a fundamental understanding of how energy storage materials work under real operating conditions as the foundation for the discovery and development of next-generation energy storage systems. PNNL’s energy storage capabilities are focused on accelerating discovery and understanding materials and chemistries that can catalyze new energy storage technologies. At the foundational level, our researchers investigate different energy storage chemistries while improving existing and future battery technologies for a reliable, affordable, and secure grid. By combining data analytics with materials discovery, synthesis, and characterization, our scientists are accelerating the next generation of energy storage materials. We are developing the tools we need to understand new materials, reactions, and systems related to energy storage in a functioning device. We are pioneering new in operando techniques to “see” chemical and electrochemical reactions, live, while they are taking place at the atomic level. Specialized equipment for in operando microscopy enables us to understand interfacial reactions of battery materials while they are operating. The direct observations of the materials and their interfacial reactions in a “living” battery deepen our fundamental understanding of why it does or doesn’t work, allowing our scientists to re-design materials and the materials’ structures for better batteries.
