38th Annual Huggins Science Seminar

Thursday, April 5/2018 - 7:00pm K.C. Irving Centre Auditorium - Reception to Follow

Our Energy Future, Lithium-Ion Batteries and Electrochemical Energy Storage - JEFF DAHN

 Abstract:

Thank goodness the world is shifting more and more to renewable sources of energy like solar, wind and tidal. However, the sun does not always shine, the wind does not always blow and tidal flows are zero periodically.  Electrochemical energy storage (in batteries) is needed to deal with this variability when the fraction of renewables on the energy grid becomes large.  In this talk, I will highlight Canadian contributions to the science and technology of lithium-ion batteries that are helping with the transformation to renewable energy and electric vehicles.  I will also provide a few sobering perspectives on the scale of this transformation.

Bio:

Jeff Dahn is recognized as one of the pioneering developers of the lithium-ion battery that is now used worldwide in laptop computers and cell-phones. Dahn's recent work has concentrated extending the lifetime of lithium-ion batteries so they last decades. 

Jeff Dahn was born in Bridgeport, Conn. in 1957 and emigrated with his family to Nova Scotia in 1970. He obtained his B.Sc. in Physics from Dalhousie University (1978) and his Ph.D. from the University of British Columbia in 1982.  Dahn then worked at the National Research Council of Canada (82-85) and at Moli Energy Limited (85-90) before taking up a faculty position in the Physics Department at Simon Fraser University in 1990.  He returned to Dalhousie University in 1996 as a Professor of Physics.  He is presently a Canada Research Chair and the NSERC/Tesla Canada Industrial Research Chair.

Jeff and his wife Kathy’s twin daughters, Tara and Hannah are graduates of Dalhousie Medical School and are currently in their residency program. Their son, Jackson, is also a Dalhousie graduate (Engineering), who works at a startup company, Novonix, in Dartmouth.

Jeff Dahn was awarded the inaugural Governor General Innovation Award (Canada) in May, 2016 and the Gerhard Herzberg Gold Medal in Science and Engineering (Canada’s top science award) in 2017 among many other awards.

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