College/University - Vestal, NY, US
Better ways to store energy are critical to becoming more energy efficient. One of the keys to advances in energy storage lies in both finding novel materials and in understanding how current and new materials function. The NorthEast Center for Chemical Energy Storage (NECCES) is an effort being led by Binghamton University, and includes as partners Rutgers University , Argonne National Laboratory, Cambridge University, MIT, the University of Michigan, the University of Illinois at Chicago, the University of California at Santa Barbara and the University of California at San Diego. The Center will support basic research in the design of the next generation of lithium-ion batteries (LiBs), which requires both the development of new chemistries and the fundamental understanding of the physical and chemical processes that occur in these complex systems. Intercalation. The mission of the Center is to develop and understanding of how key electrode reactions occur, and how they can be controlled to improve electrochemical performance, from the atomistic level to the macroscopic level through the life-time of the operating battery. Three thrust areas have been established, intercalation materials, transport in mesoscale systems and one cross-cutting on characterization, in order to achieve the Center's goals. The Four-year Goals of the Center are: -Close the gap between the theoretical and practical energy density for intercalation compounds. -Attain reversible multi-electron transfer in a cathode material using lithium. -Understand performance limiting transport in positive electrode structures from the local through the meso to the macroscale. -Enable new chemistries involving electrode systems that were previously considered intractable for use in batteries.