Joint Center for Energy Storage Research

 JCESR
Advancing promising areas of energy science and engineering from the earliest stages of research to the point of commercialization, from 2012 to 2023.

The Joint Center for Energy Storage Research (JCESR) was a Department of Energy Innovation Hub that, for more than a decade, focused on the development of next-generation, beyond-lithium-ion batteries. Led by Argonne National Laboratory, participants included government, academic, and industrial researchers representing an array of disciplines—combining discovery science, battery design, research prototyping, and manufacturing collaboration in a single organization.

JCESR divided its efforts across five thrusts: liquid solvation science, solid solvation science, flowable redoxmer science, charge transfer at dynamic interfaces, and science of material complexity.

JCESR’s research and development efforts yielded significant milestones, including an enhanced understanding of battery operation at the atomic and molecular level, the discovery of new materials and molecules, the development of new tools to enable operando characterization, and the pioneering use of data science to enhance knowledge. JCESR also inspired the creation of three startup companies. The hub also boasted more than 350 alumni who received comprehensive training in multidisciplinary aspects of energy storage science. 

With more than 1,000 publications, 65,000 citations, and an H-index of 121, JCESR spurred 66 inventions, and attracted more than $900 million in subsequent funding.

JCESR was led by founding director George Crabtree from the hub’s inception until Crabtree’s death in January 2023. Venkat Srinivasan served as director until JCESR concluded. He currently serves as director of the Argonne Collaborative Center for Energy Storage Science (ACCESS) and the Low-cost Earth-abundant Na-ion Storage Consortium (LENS).

Our Mission

The mission of JCESR, DOE’s Batteries and Energy Storage Hub, is to overcome critical scientific and technical barriers and create transformative battery technology for transportation and the electric grid.

Our Vision

Our vision is to transform transportation and the electricity grid with high performance, inexpensive electricity storage that enables widespread deployment of electric cars, broad penetration of wind and solar electricity, and breaks the century-old constraint of matching instantaneous electricity generation with instantaneous electricity demand.