Next

  • What's Next for JCESR Next-gen Prototypes?
    Director George Crabtree gives an update on Hub goals, accomplishments, future

    View More

  • Better Energy Storage for Transportation and Grid
    JCESR Director Crabtree on how we need to save money to manage finances efficiently… store energy for efficient grid

    View More

  • Students Build a Better Battery at JCESR Event
    The full-day event was a chance for students to learn about careers in science, build real batteries

    View More

  • A Better Grid - Why?
    George Crabtree and JCESR scientists discuss how a better grid would confuse the ghost of Edison

    View More

  • The Next Energy Storage Revolution
    Director Crabtree's perspective published in Nature: how next-gen batteries will revolutionize the grid, transportation

    View More

Our Mission

The Joint Center for Energy Storage Research (JCESR) is a public/private partnership that brings together world-leading scientists, engineers, and manufacturers with an important mission: develop clean energy storage technologies for transportation and the electricity grid. The Center was established by the Department of Energy as an Energy Innovation Hub in 2012 and is led by Argonne National Laboratory. Our partners include five national laboratories, ten universities, and five industrial firms. Explore our website and discover how we are leading the way to transformational change in energy storage.

Learn More
October 27, 2016, Videos

Energy Storage Has the Potential to Change the Way We Live

This CNBC Special Report discusses how the striking and swift evolution of cell phones from cumbersome bricks to sleek, powerful devices was possible because of the lithium-ion batteries used to charge them up. Next-gen batteries could bring the kind of change we’ve seen in telephones to electric vehicles and the grid.

Watch Video

Multivalent Intercalation

One of the energy storage concepts being pursued by JCESR is multivalent intercalation. This concept involves replacement of singly charged lithium ions in the lithium-ion battery by new doubly or triple charged ions.

Learn More

Chemical Transformation

A second energy storage concept being pursued by JCESR is chemical transformation. This concept involves replacement of intercalation of the working ion at the anode and cathode with higher energy chemical bonds.

Learn More

Redox Flow

A third energy storage concept being pursued by JCESR is redox flow. This concept involves the replacement of solid electrodes with energy-dense liquids.

Learn More

Scientific Tools

JCESR’s new paradigm replaces Edisonian science with innovative new tools that map the broad outlines of the beyond-lithium-ion research space instead of laboriously exploring its details one battery system or component at a time.

Learn More

Partnerships

JCESR brings together high-powered scientists and engineers from ten universities, five national laboratories, and five industrial firms, and provides them with the tools and institutional backing needed to discover new materials, understand their basic science, accelerate technology development, and commercialize revolutionary energy storage technologies.

Learn More

Available Technologies

JCESR researchers have developed a wide and diverse range of technologies that may have a worldwide impact in the area of energy storage. JCESR grants licenses for JCESR-developed intellectual property to existing and start-up companies that are technically and financially capable of turning early-stage technology into commercial products.

Learn More

Research Highlights

See All

Accomplishments

See All
  • October 18, 2016, Accomplishments

    Scientific Sprints: Speed Through Collaboration

    As an innovative twist on traditional project management, JCESR conducts “Sprints,” small teams of dedicated researchers formed to solve a select research challenge within 1-6 months. Using the Sprint approach, JCESR takes a single question from our catalog of prioritized scientific challenges and dedicates a … Read More

  • March 28, 2016, Accomplishments

    The Electrochemical Discovery Laboratory

    The Electrochemical Discovery Laboratory (EDL) — a key JCESR discovery tool located at Argonne — synthesizes high-quality materials for testing in beyond-lithium-ion batteries and characterizes their properties with state-of-the-art analytical techniques. Read More

  • March 28, 2016, Accomplishments

    The Electrolyte Genome Project

    Traditional chemistry relies on intuition and experience to select a few materials that might work well for new electrolytes. The Electrolyte Genome streamlines this process by evaluating thousands of materials by simulation on the computer and choosing the most promising few for synthesis in the … Read More

  • February 29, 2016, Accomplishments

    Water as a Catalyst – Improving how Batteries Function

    Anyone who has ever dropped a cell phone in the sink will tell you that electrical devices and water do not go together. However, a new study has shown that conventional wisdom may not hold on the molecular scale in some beyond-lithium-ion batteries. Read More

  • October 22, 2015, Accomplishments

    Techno-Economic Modeling -- Building New Battery Systems on the Computer

    JCESR is applying techno-economic models to project the performance and cost of a wide array of promising new battery systems before they are prototyped. The results from techno-economic modeling establish performance “floors” for discovery science teams looking for new anodes, cathodes, and electrolytes for a … Read More