Li-ion batteries are vital for the energy transition, especially in the context of decarbonizing transportation. Yet there exist significant hurdles to making these batteries part of a sustainable solution. We’ll dive into battery reuse and recycling, improvements to energy-intensive manufacturing, and alternatives to lithium.
Michael Burz is CEO and Co-Founder of Enzinc, an award-winning battery innovator developing a microsponge zinc anode for high-performance rechargeable mobility and stationary batteries. Enzinc’s drop-in technology unlashes the hidden potential of the $60B lead-acid industry by enabling legacy manufacturers, with minimal CAPEX, to rapidly convert their plants to produce premium zinc-based batteries. Over his career, Michael has successfully brought major projects from conception to production. At Nissan, he led a team to design and produce an innovative modular race car for the 24 Hours of Le Mans, on time and under budget. At General Dynamics, Convair Division, he designed cruise missiles, and at CSC, he had P&L responsibility for a multi-million dollar account, was VP of both the Global Manufacturing Vertical and the European Defense Sector and brought in more than $2 bn in new business. Michael has a MS in Aerospace Engineering from San Diego State University, a BS in Aeronautical Engineering from the California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, and a certificate in Innovation Leadership from Cornell.
Dr. Gao Liu is a Senior Scientist and Group Lead of the Applied Energy Materials group at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL). His research interests in the battery and energy storage space include silicon materials and electrode binders for advanced lithium-ion batteries, lithium-sulfur batteries, solid-state batteries, and electrode interfaces. His work has been published in Advanced Materials, Journal of the American Chemical Society, and Natural Communications, and received national and international awards. Recently, his group has created a Quick-Release Binder, a material that can simplify the battery recycling process.
Dr. Yanying Lu is a Sr. battery scientist with a specific interest and experience in battery material fabrication and cell evaluation. She has 10 years of battery experience and over 30 scientific publications. She received a Ph.D. degree in Chemistry at Nankai University. Before her current position, she worked at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory as a postdoc for two years. Her research was mainly focused on developing low-cost materials for rechargeable batteries, and one of her innovative research projects was honored with a “2022 R&D 100 Award.”
Emily Abdo is a PhD student in the Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering department at UC Berkeley. She obtained her Bachelor’s in Chemical Engineering from Princeton University. Through her work in the Balsara Lab, she studies block copolymers as solid electrolytes for Li-ion batteries. She uses materials characterization techniques, such as small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS), to understand transport phenomena in these polymer electrolytes and the interplay between morphology and electrochemical properties.