News Archive
Three UC San Diego Professors Inducted Into the National Academy of Inventors for 2025
December 11, 2025
Three professors at the University of California San Diego have been elected to the 2025 Class of Fellows of the National Academy of Inventors (NAI): Ping Liu, Bernhard Palsson and Alan Saltiel. They are recognized for their innovations in sustainable manufacturing, batteries and metabolic research. Full Story
New Alloy Design Could Power Solid-state Batteries that Charge Faster and Last Longer
November 7, 2025
Engineers have developed a new design strategy for metal alloy negative electrodes that could significantly improve the performance and durability of next-generation solid-state batteries. The work could help advance the path toward practical, high-performance energy storage for electric vehicles. Full Story
Simple Algorithm Paired with Standard Imaging Tool Could Predict Failure in Lithium Metal Batteries
August 4, 2025
A simple yet powerful method to characterize how lithium deposits in lithium metal batteries could lead to the development of safer, longer-lasting and more energy dense batteries for electric vehicles and grid-scale energy storage. Full Story
New Cooling Tech Could Curb Data Centers' Rising Energy Demands
June 13, 2025
A new cooling technology could significantly improve the energy efficiency of data centers and high-powered electronics while reducing water use associated with cooling. By passively removing heat through evaporation, it offers a promising alternative to traditional cooling systems. Full Story
A Battery Breakthrough Inspired by a Can of Compressed Air
May 8, 2025
Breakthroughs often begin with simple curiosities. In this Q&A, engineering alumnus Cyrus Rustomji, Ph.D. ’15, reflects on how his ponderings about a can of compressed air, along with support from the university ecosystem and federal funding, fueled an innovation in battery technology that is solving tough challenges for U.S. private and public sectors. Full Story
Thermodynamics-defying Materials Could Revolutionize EVs, Buildings and More
April 16, 2025
What expands when crushed, shrinks when heated, and could both change scientists’ fundamental understanding of materials and return old EV batteries to factory-fresh performance levels? It’s not a riddle. It’s a slate of materials discovered by battery researchers from the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering (UChicago PME) and visiting researchers at UC San Diego. As part of a long-term research collaboration, the team found negative-thermal expansion in metastable oxygen-redox active materials. Full Story
2025 SPEC Battery Boot Camp Applications Are Open Until April 30, 2025
April 15, 2025
Are you passionate about batteries, renewable energy, and hands-on research experience? Join us this summer for the SPEC Battery Boot Camp — an intensive 8-week training program focused on lithium-ion battery technology! Full Story
UC San Diego Researchers at the Forefront of the EV Battery Revolution
October 23, 2024
The transition to electric vehicles is coming, and researchers at UC San Diego are focused on how to best help the region, the state and the world make that transition in a sustainable, affordable way. Full Story
UC San Diego Engineers and Physicists Key Players in Two New Energy Storage Hubs Funded by DOE
October 21, 2024
Researchers at the Sustainable Power and Energy Center (SPEC)of the University of California San Diego are part of two cutting-edge Energy Innovation Hub teams that have collectively been awarded $125 million in funding over the next five years by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). Full Story
2024 SPEC Summit is 17 September, 2024
August 21, 2024
Join us on 17 September, 2024 for a Summit organized by the UC San Diego Sustainable Power and Energy Center (SPEC). This event is a great opportunity to connect with UC San Diego researchers innovating at the cutting edge of battery materials and other sustainable power and energy technologies. The event also provides unique opportinities to recruit for your sustainable energy workforce and network within San Diego's dynamic sustainable power and energy community. Full Story
Healable Cathode Could Unlock Potential of Solid-state Lithium-sulfur Batteries
March 6, 2024
UC San Diego engineers developed a cathode material for lithium-sulfur (Li-S) batteries that is healable and highly conductive, overcoming longstanding challenges of traditional sulfur cathodes. The advance holds promise for bringing more energy dense and low-cost Li-S batteries closer to market. Full Story
NanoEngineering Department at UC San Diego Receives $2.1M Gift from the Aiiso Yufeng Li Family
February 21, 2024
Nanoengineer, entrepreneur and philanthropist Aiiso Yufeng Li (Jeff), and his family, have pledged a $2.1M gift to the UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering. The gift will support research, education and student activities in the Department of NanoEngineering at the Jacobs School of Engineering. Full Story
$3 Million Gift from CorDx to Boost Sustainable Energy Innovation at UC San Diego
February 8, 2024
Through his company CorDx, entrepreneur and philanthropist Aiiso Yufeng Li (Jeff) and Dongdong Guo (Doreen) have pledged $3 million to the UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering. The gift will support leading-edge research, education and collaborations in our Sustainable Power and Energy Center (SPEC). Full Story
UC San Diego Nanoengineering and Chemical Engineering Professor Sheng Xu Named Finalist for Blavatnik National Awards for Young Scientists
August 7, 2023
University of California San Diego nanoengineering and chemical engineering professor Sheng Xu has been named a Finalist for the 2023 Blavatnik National Awards for Young Scientists. This nationwide awards program celebrates the most innovative, faculty-ranked scientists and engineers in the United States who are under the age of 42. Full Story
One Step Closer to Lithium Metal Batteries that Function with Minimal External Pressure
August 3, 2023
A team of battery researchers led by UC San Diego has developed a new methodology to produce the potentially game-changing thin-film solid-state electrolyte called lithium phosphorus oxynitride (LiPON). The team went on to implement their free-standing version of LiPON film in functional battery tests and found that it promotes a uniformly dense lithium metal electrochemical deposition under zero external pressure, with the aid of internal compressive stress and a gold seeding layer. Full Story
UC San Diego Startup Wins $2.4 Million Defense Department Contract to Improve Battery Performance
May 23, 2023
Ateios Systems, a battery materials innovation company started by two UC San Diego alumni, announced recently that it has been awarded $2.4 million by the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) to help improve battery material performance and production. This effort will support a variety of critical military applications. Full Story
Probing lithium ions near a solid's surface reveals clues to boost solid-state battery performance
April 28, 2023
Using computer simulations and X-ray experiments, researchers could "see" in detail why lithium ions move slowly in a solid-state battery—specifically, at the electrolyte-electrode interface. The work could lead to new strategies to enhance ionic conductivity in solid-state batteries. Full Story
Moving perovskite solar cell advancements from the lab to the manufacturing floor
April 20, 2023
The U.S. Department of Energy Solar Energy Technologies Office announced that a team of researchers, led by MIT and including the University of California San Diego, has been selected to receive a $11.25M cost-shared award to establish a new research center that will advance the development of next-generation solar cells for commercial use. Full Story
SPEC Battery Boot Camp 2023
March 9, 2023
Applicaitons are open to participate in the summer 2023 Battery Boot Camp run by the Sustainable Power and Energy Center (SPEC) at UC San Diego. The summer camp will introduce the fundamental design principles and operation mechanisms of lithium-ion batteries, as well as techniques to fabricate them and to evaluate their performance. The application deadline is April 8, 2023. Full Story
Progress Toward Fast-charging Lithium-metal Batteries
February 9, 2023
UC San Diego engineers report progress toward lithium-metal batteries that charge fast – as fast as an hour. This fast charging is thanks to lithium metal crystals that can be seeded and grown quickly into dense layers of uniform lithium metal that lack battery-performance-degrading spikes called dendrites. Full Story
2022 Research Highlights
December 20, 2022
From tools to track the origin and spread of COVID-19, to making homes safer in earthquakes, to using smartphones as diagnostic tools, researchers at the Jacobs School of Engineering pioneered important work in 2022. A few highlights of our outstanding research this year are here. Full Story
Scientists at UC San Diego Receive $10M Department of Energy Grant to Promote Battery Recycling
December 8, 2022
A team including scientists at the University of California San Diego has been chosen to lead a $10M project to promote battery recycling and reuse. It’s part of a $74M award from the United States Department of Energy program on Bipartisan Infrastructure Law for ten programs that are at the forefront of battery recycling technology for electric vehicles. Full Story
Setting the stage for solid-state battery success
August 2, 2022
Battery researchers and other engineers from University of California San Diego, with collaboration from the LG Energy Solution, have published a forward-looking perspective article in the journal Joule. In the article, the researchers outline three categories of engineering challenges that must be solved in order to transition all-solid-state batteries from the laboratory toward large-scale industrial manufacturing. These three challenges are that of precursors, processing and pressure. Full Story
These energy-packed batteries work well in extreme cold and heat
July 4, 2022
Researchers developed lithium-ion batteries that perform well at freezing cold and scorching hot temperatures, while packing a lot of energy. This could help electric cars travel farther on a single charge in the cold and reduce the need for cooling systems for the cars' batteries in hot climates. Full Story
One step closer to fire safe, recyclable lithium-metal batteries
June 16, 2022
A team of nanoengineers from UC San Diego demonstrated inherently fire safe liquefied gas electrolytes, as well as a one-step solvent-recycling process which promises sustainable operation at scale, in a Nature Energy paper published on June 16. This work provides a route to sustainable, temperature-resilient lithium-metal batteries with fire-extinguishing properties that maintain state-of-the-art electrochemical performance. Full Story