By utilizing Argonne’s expertise and world-class facilities, ACCESS will help empower American industry to continue leading the world in energy storage discoveries and contribute to advances that could generate more high-tech jobs in the United States. Argonne researchers leverage a collection of complementary facilities and scientific equipment unmatched in energy storage R&D.
Materials Engineering Research Facility (MERF)
Enables development of manufacturing processes for producing advanced battery materials in sufficient quantity for industrial testing. MERF helps bridge the gap between benchtop science and industrial production by using cutting-edge tools to scale up production of newly discovered materials.
Cell Analysis, Modeling and Prototyping (CAMP)
Designs, fabricates, and characterizes high-quality prototype cells using high-energy anode and cathode battery materials. CAMP-manufactured cells enable realistic, consistent, and timely evaluation of candidate chemistries in a close-to-realistic industrial format.
Electrochemical Analysis and Diagnostics Laboratory (EADL)
Provides battery developers with reliable and independent performance evaluations of their cells, modules, and battery packs. EADL has the capability to conduct 240 concurrent advanced battery studies under operating conditions that simulate various applications.
Post-Test Facility
Assists with challenges related to battery failure modes. Designed to handle air-sensitive materials, such as those from lithium-based or sodium-based battery technologies, the facility uses a mixture of materials science and wet-chemistry techniques.
Electrochemical Discovery Laboratory (EDL)
The EDL allows scientists to synthesize high-quality materials for testing in beyond-lithium-ion batteries and characterize their properties with state-of-the-art analytical techniques. The goal is to understand, at atomic and molecular levels, the chemical transformations that occur during battery charging and discharging.
DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY USER FACILITIES AT ARGONNE
Argonne’s energy storage researchers also benefit from access to the laboratory’s other cutting-edge resources.
Advanced Photon Source (APS)
The APS provides the brightest storage ring-generated X-ray beams in the Western Hemisphere for research in materials science, chemistry, biology, physics, earth and planetary science, and environmental science.
Argonne Leadership Computing Facility (ALCF)
The ALCF is half of the leadership computing facility supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, and is home to Mira, the fifth-fastest supercomputer in the world. ALCF staff provides expertise and assistance to support user projects to achieve top performance of applications and to maximize benefits from the use of computing resources.
Center for Nanoscale
Materials (CNM)
The CNM develops and maintains unique capabilities for electron beam characterization and applies those capabilities to solve materials problems in three major areas: materials research, technique, and instrumentation.