SEMINAR SPEAKER: Dr. Amy Prieto, Colorado State University
 

TITLE: “Developing Synthetic Tools for Inexpensive, Efficient Energy Production and Storage”

 

There are two main limitations to the rate of charging Li-ion batteries: slow diffusion of Li + into the electrodes and slow diffusion between them. The synthesis of high surface area electrodes has been shown to dramatically enhance performance because reducing the particle size of the electrode material reduces the distance the Li + ions have to diffuse. The problem of decreasing the Li + diffusion length between electrodes has not yet been solved. We are working to incorporate high surface area structures of main group anode materials into 3D battery architectures wherein the current collector is conformally coated with an electrolyte made by electrochemical deposition, then surrounded by the cathode electrode. The significant advantage to this architecture is that the diffusion length for Li + between the cathode and anode will be dramatically reduced, which should lead to much faster charging rates. I will end the talk with some early results on moving toward sodium chemistry, which would be a much more abundant resource than lithium.

 

BIO: Dr. Prieto is a Professor in the Department of Chemistry and in the School of Materials Science and Engineering at Colorado State University, and the Founder and CSO of Prieto Battery, Inc. In addition to her research in Li-ion batteries (high capacity anode materials, 3D battery architectures), she has active projects developing nanoparticles inks for photovoltaics, light metal nanoparticles for hydrogen storage, and novel nanowire structures.

Amy is a native of Colombia. She earned her B.A. in Chemistry and Philosophy at Williams College, and her Ph.D. in Inorganic Chemistry from the University of California, Berkeley, where she was a Cooperative Research Fellow supported by Bell Labs, Lucent Technologies. Her postdoctoral work was performed at Harvard University, where she measured the electronic properties of single molecules and nanoparticles. While at Harvard she was named one of the first L’Oréal USA for Women in Science Fellows. Prof. Prieto founded Prieto Battery, Inc. in 2009 with the goal of commercializing a novel three dimensional high power density, safe lithium-ion battery made from aqueous based electroplating baths. In 2011 she was named the ExxonMobil Solid State Chemistry Faculty Fellow (an American Chemical Society award), a Presidential Early Career Awardee for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE, an honor she received from President Barack Obama) and won the Excellence in Storage Technology Commercialization Award from the Colorado Cleantech Industry Association. In 2022 she was awarded the Inorganic Nanoscience award from the American Chemical Society. She is an Associate Editor for Nano Letters, and has been inducted as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry. Her batteries are currently on display at the Smithsonian Institute, Lemelson Center in the “Places of Invention” exhibit.