Argonne is an internationally recognized leader in battery research and is the host lab for the national public-private battery R&D program, the Joint Center for Energy Storage Research (JCESR). Argonne’s materials science and chemistry divisions are home to experts in battery design, many of whom partner with JCESR members.

On the computing side, Argonne has a strong modeling program for battery life cycle analysis, the energy storage requirements needed for integration of renewable onto the grid, and the resiliency of energy storage networks during national disasters or under cyber attacks

Battery performance has become a limiting factor for the development of new technologies in grid storage and distribution, transportation, defense and electronics. Industry and federal agencies have been increasing funding for battery research and scale up to meet these needs.

Argonne is well suited to continue its leadership role in battery R&D with the expansion of the Manufacturing Engineering and Research Facility (MERF), the national lab system’s only materials scale up facility, the opening of the nation’s first exascale computer in 2020 and the upgrade of the Advanced Photon Source (APS) in 2022. The increased capacity and upgraded instrumentation provided by these investments will aid Argonne’s materials science division and chemical, science and engineering division in developing and validating next-generation battery materials quicker.

Core Competencies

Argonne has several unique and/or world-leading battery R&D capabilities including:

• MERF, which has a dedicated process scale up laboratory as well as a dedicated battery materials characterization laboratory
• The national lab systems only flame spray pyrolysis system fully integrated with a diagnostics system to enable advanced cathode production and roll-to-roll application of battery materials
• Leading battery researchers
• High-performance computing for modeling and simulations of new battery materials
• APS for material characterization
• The Cell Analysis, Modeling, and Prototyping (CAMP) climate-controlled coin and pouch cell fabrication facility, which doubled its size in April 2018
• Electrochemical Analysis Diagnostic Laboratory (EADL) for performance testing