Clean energy & Storage

new Batteries

Solid-state lithium metal batteries (LMB) consist of a new solution to store energy delivering lighter, longer ranges, and more powerful energy batteries. Different from traditional lithium-ion, LMB uses solid electrodes and electrolytes to provide superior electrochemical performance and high energy density. Some of the challenges of this new technology are to predict the cycling stability and to prevent the formation of Li dendrite growth. This phenomenon may occur during LMB charge and discharge, when Li can deposit irregularly, building up dendrites (Li plating) that leads to failures, such as short-circuit. These morphologies are key to the LMB quality, and they can be captured and analyzed using X-ray tomography (XRT) scans. This project delivers a new set of machine learning algorithms, focused on XRT data about LMB, to quantify LMB defects, as well as new protocols to monitor the lifespan of a LMB and the evolution of them during cycling.

Clean Energy - Biofuel

Understanding the impact of drought on roots of switchgrass (e.g., Panicum hallii) is relevant to research on crop optimization for biofuel. Our research focuses on image analysis of plant roots cultivated in a highly controlled climate chamber called the EcoPOD. Our machine learning algorithms analyze confocal microscopy systematically using fluorescent signals to recognize patterns through neural networks. The most significant accomplishment has been detecting the characteristics of the root architecture that are present in controlled and dry conditions.