Chelsea Chen: Breaking barriers in energy storage
For those who dream of driving their electric vehicle long distances to see the world’s largest ball of twine, Chelsea Chen is dedicated to making it possible.
Chen, a polymer physicist at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory, is studying ion transport in solid electrolytes that could help electric vehicle battery charges last longer.
“The challenge with current EVs is to further increase driving range, and that means higher energy density,” said Chen. “This requires revolutionary design of the battery chemistry.”
To address this, Chen is researching solid polymer electrolytes.
“Solid-state electrolytes are the key to higher energy density. Polymers encounter both the cathode and the anode in EV batteries. Understanding and optimizing the structure and properties at the interface is the key to improving the performance of solid-state batteries.”
Just the ‘FaCTs’
Chen is a staff researcher with the Fast and Cooperative Ion Transport in Polymer-Based Materials, or FaCT, center, one of 16 newly funded DOE Energy Frontier Research Centers that partner mainly with universities and national labs around the country working to solve pressing scientific challenges at the forefront of fundamental energy science research. FaCT researchers aim to build a model of ion transport in polymers that will inform the future design of energy storage and conversion materials, such as battery electrolytes.
Chen’s research at ORNL focuses on developing solid-state batteries and understanding ion transport in polymer-ceramic composite electrolytes and at electrolyte/electrode interfaces.
Popular high energy density designs use a lithium metal anode. However, lithium reacts readily with liquid electrolytes in current lithium-ion batteries, leading to fire safety concerns.
Solid-state electrolytes could offer a solution, and pairing them with a high-voltage cathode and a lithium metal anode leads to increased energy density.
The path to now
Chen was born in northeast China. Her favorite subject in high school was chemistry. “I was always interested in the titration experiments, seeing how one material reacts with another,” she said.
As an undergraduate student at Shanghai Jiao Tong University in China, Chen was surrounded by polymer experts. “They have a big polymer program housed in their chemistry department,” said Chen. “I worked with so many professors who specialized in polymers.”
Chen got her doctorate in macromolecular science and engineering from the University of Michigan, with a dissertation on controlling nanoparticles’ spatial distribution within a thin film polymer host. She completed postdoctoral studies at the University of California, Berkeley, and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, studying the structure of polymers with electron microscopy and small-angle X-ray scattering.
Chen has built her career around understanding the structures, properties and behaviors of polymers. Before joining ORNL’s Materials Science and Technology Division in 2017, Chen was a senior chemist at Dow Chemical. There, she focused on developing polymer dielectric films with increased thermal conductivity and mechanical flexibility for semiconductor applications.
Although she was working in her field, Chen realized her passion was research and development, which is not necessarily a priority in industry.
“I’ve always wanted to do more fundamental research, which you cannot do in the commercial sector,” Chen added. In 2017, she went back to her national laboratory roots. “I wanted to work in an institution where R&D is the focus.”
Chen has welcomed the environment change and enjoys the benefits of working at a national lab.
“The number one difference is that here the science output…
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