Energy Storage Materials: Discovery and Electrochemistry

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Electrochemical energy storage has never been more important than today. The development of viable, long-term solutions that will meet global energy needs remains one of the most critical challenges facing the scienti?c community. Amid burgeoning energy costs and sustainability concerns, international focus on energy storage (and its partner energy conversion) has rapidly gained momentum. During the course of our NSERC discovery grant research, we have made a breakthrough discovery that is changing the way electrochemists think about energy storage. Our initial work in this area was reported in Nature Materials, 2009 and described “a first” for energy storage in confined dimensions. This finding kick-started the field of lithium-sulfur batteries that has increased exponentially ever since. Moreover, this discovery helped point the way to developments in Li (and Na)-oxygen batteries, and along with Na-ion electrochemistry has become the foundation for new approaches to “beyond Li-ion batteries”.