“Protective layers for the lithium electrode based on ceramic phases”
Dr. Jordi Cabana is a research scientist working with the Batteries for Advanced Transportation Technologies (BATT) program at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), which aims at the development of high-performance rechargeable batteries for use in electric vehicles (EVs) and and hybrid-electric vehicles (HEVs.) Prior to joining LBNL in 2008, he completed his Ph.D. in Materials Science at the Institut de Ciència de Materials de Barcelona (Spain) in 2004 His thesis was entitled “Antifluorite-type Transition Metal Nitrides and Oxynitrides: Synthesis, Characterization and Application in Lithium Batteries” and was supervised by Dr. Maria Rosa Palacín. He moved to the US in 2005 to work in Prof. Clare P. Grey’s group at SUNY-Stony Brook (USA) as a postdoctoral associate.
Currently, his research aims at improving the power and energy density of electrochemical energy storage devices, both by exploring new materials and optimized microstructures, and through the study of the mechanisms that govern their performance. He has extensively used long range (X-ray and neutron diffraction) and short range (X-ray absorption spectroscopy, Nuclear Magnetic Resonance) characterization techniques, both in situ and ex situ, to understand the structural features of a variety of phases that includes oxides, nitrides, oxynitrides and oxysulfides. He has also applied his knowledge of solid state chemistry to the tailoring of the chemical compositions of these compounds, as well as both their structural and microstructural characteristics, in search of optimal power and energy densities.