LINDA NAZAR
University of Waterloo

UNRAVELLING THE COMPLEXITIES OF ELECTROCHEMICAL ENERGY STORAGE AT THE NANOSCALE

Abstract

All of today’s Li-ion energy storage devices (rechargeable batteries) work on the principle of reversible storage of electrons and Li-ions in bulk materials. Transport of these charge carriers is by solid state intercalation chemistry, where little change occurs to the framework that hosts them during the redox cycling of the cell.  This can provide high power, but limited energy storage capability.  Cells that operate on the basis of “chemical transformation” represent exciting new technologies that could meet the needs for high energy density storage that go beyond Li-ion.  Nonetheless, they require thoughtfully designed nanomaterials for the cathode, different electrolyte strategies than those used for Li-ion batteries and advanced cell engineering.  Guiding materials development for both the cathode and electrolyte also requires developing an understanding of the underlying chemistry of redox processes. The talk will address aspects of our fundamental investigations involving probes of redox chemistry and chemical speciation, along with new multifunctional nanostructured conductive materials for the electrodes which allow us to control processes at the electrolyte interface.

LINDA NAZAR was educated at the University of British Columbia and the University of Toronto, receiving her Honours undergraduate degree in chemistry and her Ph.D. degree in materials chemistry respectively. She then joined Exxon Corporate Research in Annandale NJ, USA, where she was an Exxon Postdoctoral Fellow. In 1987 she joined the faculty in the Chemistry Department at the University of Waterloo, where she initiated her independent academic career. She was promoted to full professor in 2000 and established the Laboratory for Electrochemical Energy Materials. She has contributed to building the Waterloo Institute for Nanotechnology program, and the shaping of the WIN, its research programs and facilities, and the recruitment of its research staff.

Dr. Nazar has achieved international recognition as a leader in the areas of solid state chemistry, electrochemistry, energy storage and materials science.   She has co-authored over 160 publications, 8 patents, and over 300 contributed international conference papers. Dr. Nazar has also presented her work in over 150 invited distinguished lectures, colloquia and seminars around the globe. She is listed in the 2014 Highly Cited Research List (Thomson-Reuters Web of Science) and in their 2014 World’s Most Influential Scientific Minds,.

Dr. Nazar is the recipient of several academic and professional honours and awards, including the Electrochemistry Society Battery Division Research Award (2009), the International Battery Association award (2011), the IUPAC Distinguished Women in Chemistry/Chemical Engineering award (2011), the August-Wilhelm-von-Hofman Lecture award (German Chemical Society, 2013), and was the 2010 Moore Distinguished Scholar at the California Institute of Technology. She was also recently elected to the Royal Society of Canada (2012). Dr. Nazar is Member of the Editorial Board of several scientific journals, including Angewandte Chemie, and serves on several national and international scientific boards, panels, and committees.

Dr. Nazar has been an invited professor at the IMN/Université de Nantes, the Materials Science department UCLA, the CNRS Laboratoire de Chemie de Solide in Grenoble, France; and at Caltech.  

For more info: www.chem-eng.utoronto.ca/news.htm

Websites of Interest

• University of Toronto
• Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering
• Department of Chemical Engineering & Applied Chemistry