Hosted by: James Dickerson

The theme of this presentation is the use of microstructural control to extend the favorable attributes of "Nano", and minimize the undesirable ones, in relation to lithium ion batteries (LIBs), sodium ion batteries (SIBs) and electrochemical supercapacitors. In this talk I will cover several examples where proper microstructural design provides substantial improvements: A) The use of nanoscale coatings to more than double the cycling capacity retention and achieve near 100% coulombic efficiency of Si nanowire and nanotube LIB anodes; B) Fabricating improved materials for Na ion battery anodes through tailored metal alloys and pseudographitic carbons; C) Converting a common livestock biowaste, in the form of chicken eggshell membranes and inedible egg whites, to electrodes with some of the highest specific capacitances and Li storage capacities reported in literature for any carbon; D) Creating carbons with electrochemical performance on par or even better than graphene for a range of energy storage devices, from hemp fibers, banana peels and peat moss. In all cases I will detail the key synthesis ��" microstructure features that transform the performance of these materials from mundane to remarkable. Recent media coverage: http://www.altmetric.com/details.php?citation_id=1462145&src=bookmarklet