News Archive

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