High-Impact Studies Advance Next-Generation Batteries Through Materials and Process Engineering

A research team led by Distinguished University Professor Chunsheng Wang in the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering released two studies that offer new strategies for developing safer, higher-energy lithium batteries. The publications span two levels of battery innovation: nanoscale materials engineering for all-solid-state batteries and process-engineering principles for electrolyte design.

In the Nature Nanotechnology paper, the researchers report a nanoengineered garnet solid-state electrolyte that addresses several long-standing barriers to solid-state lithium-metal batteries. The work focuses on strengthening grain boundaries in garnet electrolytes, which have limited lithium stability, electrode contact and the fabrication of larger-format cells. The study was carried out in collaboration with Paul Albertus, associate professor in the department, as well as researchers from Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and the University of Delaware.

In the study, the team introduced a technology that improves fracture resistance, suppressing lithium dendrite growth and enhancing ionic conductivity while maintaining low electronic conductivity.

"We wanted to solve several interconnected limitations of garnet solid electrolytes through one materials-design strategy," said Yijie Liu, a postdoctoral researcher in Wang's group and first author of the paper.

In the related Nature Chemical Engineering perspective article, Wang's research team presented a process-engineering framework that connects electrolyte thermodynamics, interphase chemistry and ion transport. Drawing on concepts from chemical engineering, the article compares lithium batteries with fixed-bed reactive systems and introduces metrics that can help identify performance limitations, offering a broader basis for developing high-performance electrolytes for next-generation batteries.

"Electrolyte design is often approached mainly from the molecular level, but a battery operates as an integrated process system," said Chang-Xin Zhang, first author of the perspective article.

Wang added that the process perspective complements materials discovery by showing how different physical and chemical processes interact during battery operation.

"Process-engineering tools can help researchers diagnose the bottleneck, select the right design variables and translate molecular advances into better-performing batteries," he said.

The team recently also received a $600,000 grant from the U.S. Army Research Office to investigate high-energy sulfur-halide cathodes, which will explore new chemistries designed to increase battery energy density while addressing the stability and reversibility challenges associated with highly reactive electrode materials.

Together, the two Nature publications and the Army Research Office award underscore the group's broad effort to advance next-generation energy storage, from fundamental materials and electrolyte science to engineering principles and emerging high-energy battery chemistries.

Published July 14, 2026