Prof. Jennifer L. M. Rupp FRSC
Technische Universität München (TUM), Germany
CTO, TUM International Energy
Thomas Lord Associate Professor of Materials Science and Engineering
Associate Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Date: December 1, 2021
Time: 1300h ET
Sponsors: Hiden Analytical, Royal Society of Chemistry, Instron, Metrohm
Image: István Berta/Flickr
Nanoparticles have been central to many recent developments, including computing, communications, energy, and biology. However, because nanoparticles are hard to observe, it’s often difficult to pick the best shapes and sizes to perform specific tasks at optimal capacity.
That may be a problem no longer thanks to research out of Stanford University, where researchers gazed inside phase-changing nanoparticles for the first time – allowing them to understand how shape and crystallinity can have dramatic effects on performance.
Practically, this means that the design of energy storage materials could begin to change.
Take the lithium-ion battery, which stores and releases energy due to the electrode’s ability to sustain large deformations over several charge and discharge cycles without degrading. By nanosizing the electrode, researchers recently improved upon the efficiency process.
