The Argonne-led hub unites researchers from across the country to create the next generation of innovative battery technologies.
The Energy Storage Research Alliance (ESRA) is one of two Energy Innovation Hubs created by the U.S. Department of Energy. Led by Energy Technologies Initiative Director Shirley Meng and spearheaded by the Argonne National Laboratory, ESRA unites top researchers from two other national labs and 12 universities to address pressing battery challenges such as safety, high-energy density and long-duration batteries made from inexpensive, abundant materials. The achievement of ESRA’s goals will lead to high-energy batteries that never catch fire, offer days of long-duration storage, have multiple decades of life and are made from inexpensive, abundant materials.
“The demand for high-performance, low-cost and sustainable energy storage devices is on the rise, especially those with potential to deeply decarbonize heavy-duty transportation and the electric grid. To achieve this, energy storage technology must reach levels of unprecedented performance, surpassing the capabilities of current lithium-ion technology. The key to making these transformative leaps lies in a robust research and development initiative firmly grounded in basic science.”
Shirley Meng, Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering
Leveraging decades of national investment in basic sciences, ESRA seeks to enable transformative discoveries in materials chemistry, gain a fundamental understanding of electrochemical phenomena at the atomic scale and lay the scientific foundations for breakthroughs in energy storage technologies. The Argonne-led hub will also place a central focus on training a diverse, next-generation battery workforce for future manufacturing needs through innovative training programs with industry, academia and government.
