NEWS

 

Credit: Nathan J. Szymanski

NEW Publications

March 2, 2023

Our paper, Adaptively Driven X-Ray Diffraction Guided by Machine Learning for Autonomous Phase Identification, is published on npj Computational Materials. 

Shown left: Conventional solid “ordered” electrolyte made of just one type of metal (blue spheres). The movement of lithium ions (yellow sphere) is slow and limited, thus hampering ion conductivity and battery performance. (Gray spheres represent oxygen.) Shown right: Ions move significantly faster through “disordered” solid electrolyte: Mixing different types of metals (blue, teal, and navy spheres) creates new pathways – much like the addition of expressways on a congested highway – through which lithium ions can move quickly through the electrolyte. (Credit: Jenny Nuss/Berkeley Lab)

Media mentions

February 23, 2023

On the Road to Better Solid-State Batteries

Berkeley Lab article highlights the discovery of high-entropy solid electrolytes, work led by Dr. Zeng and Prof. Gerbrand Ceder.

More media mentions can be found at

BatteryTechOnline

PHYS.org

LabManager

EurekAlert!

ChemEurope.com

ScienceSprings

PEOPLE

January 1, 2023

Dr. Zeng is appointed as a Staff Scientist in the Materials Sciences Division at LBNL.

Effect of structural distortions on alkali site energies and percolation.

NEW Publications

December 23, 2022

Dr. Zeng's paper, High-Entropy Mechanism to Boost Ionic Conductivity, is published in Science. 

This work reveals a mechanism for enhancing ionic conductivity by embracing compositional disorder in high-entropy materials. 

A related perspective, Embracing Disorder in Solid-State Batteries, written by Dr. Botros and Dr. Janek was published in the same issue in Science.

Conferences

December 1, 2022

Dr. Zeng attended the 2022 MRS Fall meeting in Boston, where she gave a talk on "A General Mechanism to Increase Ionic Conductivity by High Entropy". 

She served as a session chair in Symposium: EN03: Beyond Li-Ion Batteries—Low Cost Alternatives Based on Other Chemistries.

AWARDS

March 28, 2022

Dr. Zeng received the Gold Medal from Ms. Barbara Hanley for the 2020 Graduate Research Excellence Awards from the Department of Mining and Materials Engineering at McGill University.

AWARDS

August 20, 2019

Dr. Zeng received the 2019 Gordon Ritcey Hydrometallurgy Award from Dr. Mike Dry at the Conference of Metallurgists in Vancouver, Canada.