Battery News

A sodium battery developed by researchers at The University of Texas at Austin significantly reduces fire risks from the technology, while also relying on inexpensive, abundant materials to serve as its building blocks.

Texas Engineers are working with John Deere to develop technologies to electrify agriculture vehicles like tractors.

One of the newest Texas Engineers has developed a low-cost method for using x-ray tech to capture images inside batteries and then deploying a software algorithm to fill in the blanks. Instead of an x-ray lense that may cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, this new research uses a couple sheets of sandpaper to structure the illumination in a sample in a way that allows for detailed mapping at the nanoscale.

A new battery technology is poised to boost electric vehicle capabilities by increasing how far a vehicle can go on a single charge and enabling more sustainable transportation. It could help usher in a future where electric vehicles play a major role in redefining mobility and environmental responsibility.

Battery experts at The University of Texas at Austin have shed new light on a critical issue facing battery components commonly used in electric vehicles.

A startup born out of the late 2019 Nobel laureate Professor John Goodenough’s lab that is developing a cost-effective alternative to lithium-ion batteries is getting support from Discovery to Impact, The University of Texas at Austin's research commercialization group. 

Guihua Yu was one of 28 U.S. researchers under the age of 42 to be named as finalist honorees for the Blavatnik National Awards for Young Scientists, announced by New York Academy of Sciences.

John B. Goodenough, professor at The University of Texas at Austin who is known around the world for the development of the lithium-ion battery, died Sunday at the age of 100. Goodenough was a dedicated public servant, a sought-after mentor and a brilliant yet humble inventor.

As electric vehicles grow in popularity, the spotlight shines more brightly on some of their remaining major issues. Researchers at The University of Texas at Austin are tackling two of the bigger challenges facing electric vehicles: limited range and slow recharging.

John Goodenough has been a part of rarified air for decades now. And this week he joined another exclusive club. The lithium-ion battery pioneer and Nobel Prize winner turned 100. To celebrate, battery leaders from around the globe, many of whom have been influenced by Goodenough's breakthroughs, gathered virtually and in person at a symposium at The University of Texas at Austin to share stories and discuss the next generation of battery research.

A pair of professors from The University of Texas at Austin were selected as finalists for the 2022 Blavatnik National Awards for Young Scientists. Guihua Yu, a professor of materials science and mechanical engineering in the Cockrell School of Engineering, was chosen as a finalist in the physical science and engineering category. And Jason McLellan, a molecular sciences professor in the College of Natural Sciences, was chosen as a finalist in the chemistry category.

Jodie L. Lutkenhaus (B.S. Chemical Engineering 2002), professor in the Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering at Texas A&M University and alumna of the Cockrell School's McKetta Department of Chemical Engineering, is the recipient of the 2022 Edith and Peter O’Donnell Award in Engineering from The Academy of Medicine, Engineering and Science of Texas (TAMEST). She was chosen for her innovation and development of redox active polymers for metal-free energy storage and smart coatings.

A research team from The University of Texas at Austin featuring battery luminaries John Goodenough and Arumugam Manthiram has secured a grant as part of the Battery500 consortium to continue their groundbreaking work.

University of Texas at Austin researchers have created a new sodium-based battery material that is highly stable, capable of recharging as quickly as a traditional lithium-ion battery and able to pave the way toward delivering more energy than current battery technologies.

A sodium-sulfur battery created by engineers at The University of Texas at Austin solves one of the biggest hurdles that has held back the technology as a commercially viable alternative to the ubiquitous lithium-ion batteries that power everything from smartphones to electric vehicles.

Several startups powered by technology created in labs at the Cockrell School of Engineering have raised fresh rounds of funding to continue their growth. The rounds for EnergyX, Harmonic Bionics and Symmetry Systems are the latest examples of startups with ties to Texas Engineering gaining momentum. The deals come on the heels of an alliance between hydrogen startup Celadyne and energy giant Shell.

Lithium-ion batteries have made possible the lightweight electronic devices whose portability we now take for granted, as well as the rapid expansion of electric vehicle production. But researchers around the world are continuing to push limits to achieve ever-greater energy densities — the amount of energy that can be stored in a given mass of material — in order to improve the performance of existing devices and potentially enable new applications such as long-range drones and robots.

Lithium-ion batteries power devices that billions of people use every day — from electric cars to smartphones and laptops. The rising demand for these batteries created a need for alternative technologies with potentially lower material costs. A promising class of batteries based on sodium and potassium ions offer new options, especially for uses that don’t require maximum energy and power. But safety and longevity issues have held back their widespread commercial adoption.

For years, researchers have aimed to learn more about a group of metal oxides that show promise as key materials for the next generation of lithium-ion batteries because of their mysterious ability to store significantly more energy than should be possible. An international research team, co-led by The University of Texas at Austin, has cracked the code of this scientific anomaly, knocking down a barrier to building ultra-fast battery energy storage systems.

An abundant, organic material found in industrial dyes could be the key to advancing a type of battery with promise for storing and deploying large quantities of renewable energy. New research from The University of Texas at Austin’s Cockrell School of Engineering introduces new materials using azobenzene to open the door for “high-capacity, long-life non-aqueous flow batteries.”