Energy Storage

Advanced Battery Research

Clean, efficient technologies capable of storing and delivering energy on timescales from seconds to hours are critical for enabling a carbon free, sustainable energy system. Low-emissions transportation technologies such as plug-in hybrid electric vehicles and battery all-electric vehicles require next-generation batteries featuring good safety, high energy density, long life, and low cost. Large scale batteries of similar characteristics (excluding perhaps the requirement of high energy density) are also essential for storing energy generated by variable renewable sources like solar and wind for the electricity grid.

The Energy Technologies Area’s Energy Storage Group conducts innovative research to understand the basic science of, as well as overcome technological barriers to next-generation batteries. Funded primarily by the U.S. Department of Energy, and based at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab), the Energy Storage Group is one of the world's leading centers for advanced battery research.

The Group devotes substantial effort to lithium-ion batteries, which are extremely promising for transportation applications, and it is developing a growing effort in batteries for electricity grid-scale applications such as flow batteries. With input from the scientific community and the battery industry, the Energy Storage Group is also expanding its research into newer, promising battery chemistries like sodium and zinc.

Key Research Areas:

• Fast Charge
• Disordered Rock-Salt Materials
• Low Temperature Electrolytes
• Silicon Anodes
• Advanced Manufacturing of Roll-to-roll Systems
• Solid State Electrolytes and Cells
• Flow Batteries/Low-Cost or Grid-Based Batteries
• ​Sodium-ion