Title: Engineered Materials for Safer Rechargeable Batteries

Speaker: Dr. Vilas Pol, Purdue University’s School of Chemical Engineering, USA

Date/Time: 10:00 AM, Dec. 17 (Mon.)

Location: Room 202, Lujiaxi Building

Abstract: 

ViPER (Vilas Pol’s Energy Research) laboratory at Purdue University focuses its research activities on the development of high capacity electrode materials, their engineering for longer cycle life and improved battery safety. Considering the advantages and limitations of known synthesis techniques, a solvent-less, single step processing technology has been developed to fabricate a variety of unique anode and cathode materials for Li-ion, Na-ion, K-ion and Li-S batteries. Moreover, the talk will demonstrate how tailored spherical, solid, dense carbon particle anodes could make Li-ion batteries safer via distributing current uniformly during charging, minimizing excess SEI formation and dendritic growth. ViPER’s recent efforts on structural, morphological, compositional and electrochemical properties of various fascinating electro-chemistries with transformative technological aspects will be discussed. These talks will be focused on the sustainable synthesis of carbonaceous materials, detailed characterization and their applications in various batteries.

Biography:

Vilas Pol is Associate Professor at Purdue University’s School of Chemical Engineering, USA. He earned his M.Sc., and M. Phil. degrees from Pune University, India and Ph. D. from Bar-Ilan University of Israel. He was a materials scientist at the Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory, IL, USA (2007-2013). Pol has 18 years of research experience in the fields of energy storage, materials chemistry, engineering and electrochemistry. He has authored or co-authored more than 155 research publications (h index 41) and an inventor on 22 US patents/applications. He is ACS Grand Prize winner, was named as ‘Argonne Scholar’, MRS science as art first prize, Intel prize, Argonne’s Near Hit Safety award, 2013 British Carbon Society’s Brian Kelly award and is a ‘Gold Medalist’ in Sports. He won R and D 100 award in 2015 and honored with American Institute of Chemical Engineer’s Sustainable Engineering Forum Research Award in 2016. Purdue University honored him with ‘Seed for Success’ award in 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018. Pol is named as ‘Purdue Faculty Scholar’ in the year 2018. Pol is a new GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS record holder for the fastest time to arrange all the elements of the periodic table. https://engineering.purdue.edu/ViPER/index.html