University of Michigan is collaborating with the U.S. Department of Energy in a multimillion dollar project to develop batteries that can store electricity generated from solar and wind energy.
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U-M has received a $7 million portion of the $120 million, five-year project, which is being run through the newly established Joint Center for Energy Storage Research, one of several innovation hubs within the energy department.
"This hub is aimed at breakthroughs in battery technology for energy storage," Michigan Energy Institute Mark Barteau said in a statement. "Step-out advances are needed to reach the energy densities desired for both automotive and grid storage applications."
The project will further advances on electric and hybrid cars.
"Advanced battery technologies can and will play an increasingly valuable role in strengthening America’s energy and economic security by reducing our oil dependence, upgrading our aging power grid, and allowing us to take greater advantage of intermittent energy sources like wind and solar," said U.S. Secretary of Energy Steven Chu.
U-M is one of five colleges, five DOE national laboratories and four private firms involved. Northwestern University, University of Chicago, University of Illinois-Chicago and University of Illinois-Urbana Champaign also are collaborating on the project, as is Dow Chemical Company; Applied Materials, Inc.; Johnson Controls, Inc.; and Clean Energy Trust.
The following U-M professors will be involved in related research:
- Levi Thompson, the Richard E. Balzhiser Collegiate Professor of Chemical Engineering, director of the Hydrogen Energy Technology Laboratory and professor of chemical engineering and mechanical engineering
- Bart Bartlett, assistant professor of chemistry in the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts
- Charles Monroe, assistant professor of chemical engineering
- Melanie Sanford, the Moses Gomberg Collegiate Professor of Chemistry in the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts
- Emmanuelle Marquis, Dow Corning Assistant Professor of Materials Science and Engineering
- Johannes Schwank, the James and Judith Street Professor of Chemical Engineering
- Alice Eleanor Sylvia Sleightholme, assistant research scientist in chemical engineering
- Donald Siegel, assistant professor of mechanical engineering
- Katsuyo Thornton, associate professor of materials science and engineering
- Anton van der Ven, associate professor of materials science and engineering
- Jyoti Mazumder, professor of materials science and engineering
- Jack Hu, the J. Reid and Polly Anderson Professor of Manufacturing Technology, associate dean for academic affairs in the College of Engineering and professor of mechanical engineering, as well as industrial and operations engineering
Kellie Woodhouse covers higher education for AnnArbor.com. Reach her at kelliewoodhouse@annarbor.com or 734-623-4602 and follow her on twitter.