Materials for Energy

The discovery and synthesis of new compounds are critical bottlenecks both for grand challenge science and for Argonne’s research strategies in energy, environment, biology and national security.

In the search for alternative energy sources, we need to make new discoveries in materials science. We need catalysts to convert feedstocks into fuels, new architectures for better solar cells and materials for advanced energy storage, including lithium batteries. New high-tech materials are key to breakthroughs in biology, the environment, nuclear energy, transportation and national security. Argonne is making revolutionary advances in the science of materials discovery and synthesis. Our ultimate goal is to be able to design new materials with useful properties—one atom at a time.