Fresh $13.6M Grant Bolsters Clean Energy Science, Takeuchi's Legacy
There are many scientific stars at work inside the Advanced Energy Research and Technology Center, but none shine brighter than Esther Takeuchi.
The Distinguished Professor and William and Jane Knapp chair in the Stony Brook University (SBU) College of Engineering and Applied Sciences’ Department of Materials Science and Chemical Engineering – chairwoman of Brookhaven National Laboratory’s (BNL) Interdisciplinary Science Department, when she’s not hanging out on campus – is a global pioneer of energy-storage systems, particularly for biomedical applications.
It's a dramatic understatement to note that Dr. Takeuchi’s achievements – including her breakthrough lithium/silver vanadium oxide battery, which forever changed the science of implanted cardiac defibrillators – have generated some buzz. The graduate of the University of Pennsylvania (BA chemistry) and Ohio State University (PhD organic chemistry) has, in fact, gathered national and international accolades by the truckload.
A recipient of the American Chemical Society’s prominent E.V. Murphee Award in Industrial and Engineering Chemistry, Dr. Takeuchi was presented with the National Medal of Technology and Innovation – the highest national award for technological achievement – by President Barack Obama in 2009.
She is a recently elected member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and an inductee of the National Academy of Engineering, as well as a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering.
In 2011, she was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame. And earlier this year, the ace researcher added a National Academy of Sciences Award in Chemical Sciences to her golden pile, reflecting her breakthrough contributions to electrochemical energy storage.
The celebrated electrochemist also has 150 patents to her name, ranking her among history’s most prolific woman inventors. And of course, Dr. Takeuchi has racked up the research grants – a veritable golden goose of government and private funding, including a $2.2 million U.S. Department of Energy Grant issued in 2021 to fund the development of new electrolytes capable of improving battery function over different operating conditions.
Most recently, Dr. Takeuchi and the outstanding research team’s m2M#S – shorthand for the SBU Center for Mesoscale Transport Properties, the Advanced Energy Research and Technology Center-based laboratory where better, safer, and longer-lasting energy storage is in play – landed a four-year, $13.6 million U.S. Department of Energy award, the third time the circa-2014 program has earned multiyear DOE funding.
The first funding round fueled research designed to understand why batteries generate heat, and to controlling that process; round two, issued in 2018, focused on scaling up battery-energy content and output.
The latest tranche – one of 43 DOE Energy Frontier Research Center awards announced this summer – will lead directly to “new battery systems that are lower cost, more Earth-abundant and provide function that is not available from the batteries on the market today,” according to Dr. Takeuchi, who predicts quantum leaps across a range of 21st Century industries.
“Advanced battery systems are needed to continue to expand adoption of electric vehicles and for the wider implementation of intermittent renewable-energy generation such as wind and solar,” the scientist says.
The renowned researcher credited the winning proposal to teamwork, applauding the combined efforts of SBU Department of Chemistry Distinguished Professor Kenneth Takeuchi – Dr. Takeuchi’s husband, who developed the proposal’s scientific theme – and Department of Chemistry Associate Professor Amy Marschilok, along with input from BNL, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Columbia University, Cornell University, and a host of other partner institutions.
“Preparing a proposal of this size and scope requires the efforts of an outstanding team, including the senior investigators and staff,” Dr. Takeuchi notes. “They have all been essential to our success.”
Decades into her unparalleled career, an intuitive understanding of basic scientific principles continues to be essential to Dr. Takeuchi’s success. Now, the energy-storage trailblazer is excited to leverage the new federal funding – and the AERTC’s world-class facilities – to deepen understanding of electrochemical energy storage, vital to future clean-energy advances.
“We are investigating the fundamental science of electrochemically active materials and how they evolve within a complex battery environment,” Dr. Takeuchi says. “This includes the investigation of how the materials change with use, the role of the electrolyte and the changing interfaces within the battery.”