Designer Polymers for Lithium Ion Batteries (Energy Harvesting & Storage USA 2015)

The ability to repair damage spontaneously, which is termed self-healing, is an important survival feature in nature. This feature is highly desirable for rechargeable batteries because the lifetime of high-capacity electrodes, such as silicon anodes, is shortened by mechanical fractures. Inspired by nature, we apply self-healing polymers to silicon anodes, leading to high charge storage capacity and long cycle-life.

Dr. Zheng Chen is a postdoc associated at Stanford University. He received his BS degree in Chemical Engineering from Tianjin University (China) and PhD degree in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at UCLA. His research spans from designing nanocrystalline to polymeric materials for various electrochemical energy storage devices. Currently, he is conducting his postdoc research in the area of polymer-based materials for high-energy-density batteries with Prof. Zhenan Bao and Yi Cui at Stanford. He was awarded Outstanding Graduate Award (UCLA), Chinese Government Award for Outstanding Self-Financed PhD Students Studying Abroad and MRS Graduate Student Award.

Stanford University, located between San Francisco and San Jose in the heart of California's Silicon Valley, is one of the world's leading teaching and research universities. Since its opening in 1891, Stanford has been dedicated to finding solutions to big challenges and to preparing students for leadership in a complex world.