Molecular Engineering Professor Y. Shirley Meng projected a hopeful future for energy storage technology at an Institute talk on Feb 4. Meng, who is founding faculty director of the Energy Technologies Initiative, gave a comprehensive overview of battery science, policy and economics to an audience of students from across the University.
A central theme in Meng’s talk was the need to expand the global battery supply. As nations increase their total electricity usage and transition to clean energy, they will demand a drastic increase in global energy storage capacity, measured in kilowatt hours (KWh) or terawatt hours (TWh).
“Go around your house and add up all the batteries you have,” Meng advised to students. Between smartphones, computers, electric vehicles and even electric toothbrushes, “you’ll find a lot of kilowatt hours,” she said.
Today’s global supply of lithium-ion batteries, which are used in electric vehicles and consumer electronics, adds up to 1 TWh. In the future, Meng estimated a global need of 30 to 40 TWh.
Meeting this growing demand will require not just increased production, but innovation, Meng said. As the chief scientist of the Argonne Collaborative Center for Energy Storage Science (ACCESS) Argonne National Laboratory, Meng also gave an expert perspective on developing energy storage materials that could revolutionize the field.
Today’s lithium-ion batteries have enabled clean energy development and innovation, but leave the US dependent on foreign manufacturers, Meng said. But new battery technologies are in the works, and their upsides include improved safety and weather resistance, higher energy density and the use of abundant, US-sourced materials. She mentioned the prospects of sodium and lithium-metal batteries, both of which Meng and her researchers have worked to develop and improve upon in her Laboratory for Energy Storage and Conversion.
While lithium-ion batteries are dominating the field today, they “may not be the battery for the future,” Meng said. “Trust in innovation.”
About the Speaker
Y. Shirley Meng is a professor of molecular engineering at the Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering. She also serves as the chief scientist of the Argonne Collaborative Center for Energy Storage Science (ACCESS) Argonne National Laboratory.
Her work pioneers in discovering and designing better materials for energy storage by a unique combination of first-principles computation guided materials discovery and design, and advanced characterization with electron/neutron/photon sources. Meng is the principal investigator of the research group – Laboratory for Energy Storage and Conversion (LESC). She has received several prestigious awards, including the Faraday Medal of Royal Chemistry Society (2020), International Battery Association Battery IBA Research Award (2019), Blavatnik Awards for Young Scientists Finalist (2018), C.W. Tobias Young Investigator Award of the Electrochemical Society (2016), Science Award Electrochemistry by BASF and Volkswagen (2014) and NSF CAREER Award (2011). Meng is the elected fellow of Electrochemical Society (FECS) and elected fellow of Materials Research Society (FMRS). She serves as the editor-in-chief for Materials Research Society MRS Energy & Sustainability Journal.
