Energy storage represents an enormous challenge and opportunity for scientific research to cross technological boundaries in bringing energy independence to the United States. One hundred years ago, electric vehicles were in vogue but soon gave way to gasoline-powered automobiles that were less expensive and offered extended range and quicker refueling times. Now, one hundred years later, an overpopulated and technologically-driven world suffers the consequences of CO2 emissions from the exploitation of oil and coal to satisfy increasing demands for industrial and household energy and the need to travel. The urgent requirement for clean, low cost energy has resulted in major investments from both government and the private sector across the world to revisit electric power for transportation and electrochemical energy storage as a means to fulfill this goal.
Rechargeable lithium-ion batteries have had a profound and revolutionary impact on the energy storage market since their launch in commercial products by Sony Corporation in 1991; they have become significant in powering both small and large, high energy and high power applications - from smart cards, through implantable medical devices, portable communication equipment, hybrid- and all-electric vehicles to stationary energy storage for emergency back-up and for controlling fluctuations in the electrical grid. The presentation will provide a perspective of recent progress in advancing and exploiting battery science and technology; it will highlight current challenges and opportunities in a lithium-based energy storage economy.
