Chloride-Free Electrolyte and Organic Cathode Boosted Energy Density, Stability

Researchers from the University of Houston and the Toyota Research Institute of America have discovered a promising new version of high-energy magnesium batteries, with potential applications ranging from electric vehicles to battery storage for renewable energy systems.

When it comes to batteries, UH engineer Yan Yao never runs out of award-winning ideas.

Yao, an associate professor of electrical and computer engineering at the UH Cullen College, and his research partners are known for their work to create better, safer and longer lasting batteries in the energy storage field. 

Batteries capable of powering the electric vehicles of tomorrow may be available sooner than we think, thanks to more than $5.7 million in seed funding provided through the Department of Energy’s Battery500 consortium.

Modern batteries power everything from cars to cell phones, but they are far from perfect – they catch fire, they perform poorly in cold weather and they have relatively short lifecycles, among other issues. Now researchers from the University of Houston have described a new class of material that addresses many of those concerns in Nature Materials.

If there’s one thing Yan Yao gets a charge out of, it’s the idea of creating a better battery. The Cullen College assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering is known for being the most current in the battery industry. A Google search yields more than 16,000 citations of papers by Yao.

Yifei Li, a former doctoral student in the Cullen College’s department of electrical and computer engineering (ECE), was garnering international attention for his battery research before he’d even earned his degree.

Yan Yao, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering at the UH Cullen College of Engineering, authored a research paper that was chosen as the cover of the January 2016 edition of the Journal of Materials Chem

Lauren Talarico, a reporter for KHOU 11 News in Houston, interviewed Yan Yao, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering at UH Cullen College of Engineering, for her report on exploding hoverboards this week.

Yanliang (Leonard) Liang, electrical and computer engineering research associate at UH Cullen College, won the Silver Nano Research Poster Award at the 10th Sino-U.S. Symposium on Nanoscale Science and Technology in June.