Argonne advances battery breakthroughs at every stage in the energy storage lifecycle, from discovering substitutes for critical materials to pioneering new real-world applications to making end-of-life recycling more cost effective.
Best known for their applications in consumer electronics and electric vehicles, batteries power far more than our daily tools. Innovations in energy storage — the capture of energy produced at one time for later use — can protect against supply chain disruptions, reinforce the grid and foster U.S. manufacturing competitiveness.
Batteries now support efforts to ensure low-cost, domestic energy production. At the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory, researchers are advancing breakthroughs at every stage in the energy storage lifecycle. From discovering substitutes for scarce, critical materials to pioneering new, real-world applications to making end-of-life recycling more cost effective.
Energy Storage, Critical Elements and Supply Chains
Energy storage offers many benefits, but it also is complicated by supply chain challenges that affect how technologies are developed and used. Over the last few decades, scientists have dramatically improved lithium-ion batteries in terms of how much energy they can store and how long they last.
As a result, they are now widely used in appliances, vehicles and on the grid. They enable the grid to be more dependable in the face of rising electricity demand and natural disasters. Lithium-ion batteries, however, rely heavily on critical elements like lithium, cobalt and nickel, which are predominantly found abroad. Consequently, battery supply chains are often vulnerable to disruption.
DOE and the national laboratories are working to protect energy infrastructure from potential supply shocks — whether from market fluctuations or national security threats. This requires safe and low-cost energy storage solutions that utilize domestic materials. To meet this need, researchers are working to improve the performance and lifespan of sodium-ion and water-based battery alternatives.
Argonne’s Approach
Argonne has long served as a global leader in battery science. Most notably, Argonne researchers played a key role in the development of the nickel-manganese-cobalt oxide (NMC) cathode, which is in many electric vehicles today.
Currently, the laboratory is deploying artificial intelligence (AI) for materials discovery, testing cutting-edge chemistries and supporting U.S. innovation ecosystems to ensure that Argonne innovations match what the market demands.
“Batteries are a foundation for American energy abundance, and Argonne researchers can help ensure that tomorrow’s energy storage technologies are safe, efficient, long-lasting and domestically produced,” said Venkat Srinivasan, director of the Argonne Collaborative Center for Energy Storage Science (ACCESS) and the Low-cost Earth-abundant Na-ion Storage (LENS) Consortium.
“Rooted in fundamental science, our approach supports the U.S. energy storage landscape through practical innovations that use a wide array of battery materials. We’re also harnessing the power of AI to accelerate the pace of discovery and leapfrog current energy storage paradigms.”
To support early-stage energy storage research, Argonne leads the Energy Storage Research Alliance (ESRA), a DOE Energy Innovation Hub that includes Lawrence Berkeley and Pacific Northwest national laboratories and eleven universities across the U.S. Leveraging decades of national investment in basic sciences, ESRA seeks to enable transformative discoveries in materials chemistry and gain a fundamental understanding of electrochemical phenomena at the atomic scale. From there, the hub aims to accelerate technology commercialization, prioritize the development of battery materials that protect the U.S. from supply chain risks and train a next-generation battery workforce for future manufacturing needs.
Argonne also leads the LENS Consortium, convening 14 partners — including six national labs and eight universities — to pioneer safe, affordable and U.S.-sourced sodium-ion batteries as an alternative to lithium-ion systems. Argonne scientists are working to decrease the cost and increase how much energy sodium-ion batteries can store, without compromising safety or lifespan.
Across the laboratory, ACCESS brings together top scientists and engineers to tackle energy storage challenges across various disciplines. To date, the network has supported more than 240 patents, from advanced cathodes to novel electrolytes, helping industries, ranging from automotive to aerospace, move technology from the lab to the global market.
Finally, Argonne is home to the ReCell Center, a national collaboration that unites industry, academia and national laboratories to spur effective battery recycling. Advances in this area can extract more value out of batteries at the end of their initial use, reducing their costs as well as U.S. reliance on foreign raw materials for battery manufacturing.
What’s Next
With nationwide electricity demand projected to soar in the years ahead, and 21st century threats challenging 20th century infrastructure, Argonne is scaling its capabilities to meet the energy demands of a new era.
The lab’s upgraded Advanced Photon Source (APS) and Aurora exascale supercomputer, part of the Argonne Leadership Computing Facility (ALCF), serve as leading tools for real-time materials discovery, modeling, and testing and are available for use by Argonne researchers, partner institutions and private companies. APS and ALCF are DOE Office of Science user facilities. Across the lab, researchers are exploring electrified aviation, aqueous grid storage and solid-state lithium-sulfur systems that could double electric vehicle range.
At Argonne, battery research is driving progress across the entire energy storage lifecycle, strengthening domestic energy production, supporting the grid and helping secure a competitive, resilient future for U.S. manufacturing.