Argonne National Laboratory

Justin Connell

Materials Scientist

Biography

Justin Connell is a Materials Scientist in the Energy Conversion and Storage Group of the Materials Science Division, Deputy Director for Science for the Center for Steel Electrification by Electrosynthesis (C-STEEL), and manager of the Electrochemical Discovery Laboratory. He is also a member of the Consortium for Advanced Science and Engineering affiliated with the Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering at the University of Chicago. His current research interests focus on utilizing a combination of vacuum synthesis, electrochemical analysis and spectroscopic tools to understand the bulk and interfacial (electro)chemical processes that govern the stability and reversibility of materials and electrolytes for energy storage and decarbonized manufacturing applications.

Education:

  • Ph.D. Materials Science and Engineering,  Northwestern University, 2013
  • B.S. Chemistry, The College of William and Mary, 2008

Selected Recent Publications:

  • Lavan, S. L.; Ilic, S.; Viswanath, S.; Jain, A.; Assary, R. S.; Connell, J. G. Generalizable, Tunable Control of Divalent Cation Solvation Structure via Mixed Anion Contact Ion Pair Formation. Journal of Materials Chemistry A 12 (2024) 6768-6776. doi: 10.1039/D3TA07613J

  • Ilic, S. Lavan, S. N.; Leon, N. J,; Liu, H.; Jain, A.; Key, B.; Assary, R. S.; Liao, C.; Connell, J. G. Mixed-Anion Contact Ion-Pair Formation Enabling Improved Performance of Halide-Free Mg-Ion Electrolytes. ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces 16 (2024) 435-443. doi: 10.1021/acsami.3c11293

  • Ilic, S.; Counihan, M. J.; Lavan, S. N.; Yang, Y.; Dhakal, D.; Mars, J.; Antonio, E.; Jiang, Y.; Fister, T. T.; Zhang, Y.; Toney, M. F.; Klie, R. F.; Connell, J. G.; Tepavcevic, S. Role of Antisolvent Additives in Aqueous Zinc Sulfate Electrolytes for Zinc Metal Anodes: The Case of Acetonitrile. ACS Energy Letters 9 (2024) 201-208. doi: 10.1021/acsenergylett.3c02504

  • Driscoll, D. M.; Lavan, S. L.; Zorko, M.; Redfern, P. C.; Ilic, S.; Agarwal, G.; Fister, T. T.; Assary, R. S.; Cheng, L.; Strmcnik, D.; Balasubramanian, M.; Connell, J. G. Emergent Solvation Phenomena in Non-aqueous Electrolytes with Multiple Anions. Chem 9 (2023) 1955-1971. doi: 10.1016/j.chempr.2023.03.021

  • Hood, Z. D.; Mane, A. U.; Sundar, A.; Tepavcevic, S.; Zapol, P.; Eze, U. D.; Adhikari, S. P.; Lee, E.; Sterbinsky, G. E.; Elam, J. W.; Connell, J. G. Multifunctional Coatings on Sulfide-Based Solid Electrolyte Powders with Enhanced Processability, Stability, and Performance for Solid State Batteries. Advanced Materials 35 (2023) 2300673. doi: 10.1002/adma.202300673

  • Connell, J. G.†; Fuchs, T.†; Hartmann, H.; Krauskopf, T.; Zhu, Y.; Sann, J.;Garcia-Mendez, R.; Sakamoto, J.; Tepavcevic, S.; Janek, J. Kinetic versus Thermodynamic Stability of LLZO in Contact with Lithium Metal. Chemistry of Materials 32 (2020) 10207-10215. doi: 10.1021/acs.chemmater.0c03869

  • Connell, J. G.; Zorko, M.; Agarwal, G.; Yang, M.; Liao, C.; Assary, R. S.; Strmcnik, D.; Markovic, N. M. Anion Association Strength as a Unifying Descriptor for the Reversibility of Divalent Metal Deposition in Nonaqueous Electrolytes. ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces 12 (2020), 36137–36147. doi: 10.1021/acsami.0c09404

  • Zhu, Y.; Connell, J. G.; Tepavcevic, S.; Zapol, P.; Garcia-Mendez, R.; Taylor, N. J.; Sakamoto, J.; Ingram, B. J.; Curtiss, L. A.; Freeland, J. W.; Fong, D. D.; Markovic, N. M. Dopant-Dependent Stability of Garnet Solid Electrolyte Interfaces with Lithium Metal. Advanced Energy Materials 9 (2019) 1803440. doi: 10.1002/aenm.201803440

  • Strmcnik, D.; Castelli, I. E.; Connell, J. G.; Haering, D.; Zorko, M.; Martins, P.; Lopes, P. P.; Genorio, B.; Østergaard, T.; Gasteiger, H.; Maglia, F.; Antonopoulos, B. K.; Stamenkovic, V. R.; Rossmeisl, J.; Markovic, N. M. Electrocatalytic transformation of impurity HF to H2 and LiF in lithium ion batteries. Nature Catalysis 1 (2018) 255-262. doi: 10.1038/s41929-018-0047-z

  • Connell, J. G.; Genorio, B.; Lopes, P. P.; Strmcnik, D.; Stamenkovic, V. R.; Markovic, N. M. Tuning the Reversibility of Mg Anodes via Controlled Surface Passivation by H2O/Cl- in Organic Electrolytes. Chemistry of Materials 28 (2016) 8268-8277. doi: 10.1021/acs.chemmater.6b03227

†Equal contribution