Kim receives U.S. Department of Energy award for work in advanced vehicle technologies

Jung-Hyun Kim, assistant professor in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, along with Nexceris and Navitas has received a ~$2.5M award from the Department of Energy (DOE) for their project titled “Cobalt-free LNMTO spinel cathode materials.”

This project is one of 42 selected by the DOE to support advanced vehicle technologies that can enable more affordable mobility, strengthen domestic energy security, reduce U.S. dependence on foreign sources of critical materials and enhance U.S. economic growth. This project also supports DOE’s goal of investing in early-stage research of transportation technologies that can give families and businesses more options for meeting their mobility needs.

With the transportation industry’s increased adoption of EVs, the demand for battery materials has increased as well. This project will develop cathode materials for next generation electric vehicle batteries that eliminate or significantly reduce the use of cobalt. Cobalt is an expensive and critical, foreign sourced material which could pose a supply risk in the future.

“Our work over the next three years will pave the way to a new generation cathode of Li-ion batteries,” said Kim. “Our goal is to develop low-cost cathode materials with high energy and power and demonstrate it using prototype battery cells with 2 Ah capacity, which can significantly impact Li-ion battery markets, mainly for electric vehicle (EV) applications.”

“I am very excited about this award,” said Kim. “The proposed concept is what I have devoted my passion and research efforts to during my career. I am also grateful that I have good collaboration opportunities with my respected industry partners - Nexceris and Navitas – through this award, which can make a synergy in terms of future impacts such as technology commercialization and marketing.