Dr. Shirley Meng and her team of material engineers are racing to create affordable and efficient batteries that can store solar and wind energy. The cells they’re building are so sensitive they must work in oxygen-void, humidity-controlled glove boxes through thick rubber sleeves. It requires the fine motor skills one expects of a surgeon.
They’re betting on sodium-ion batteries.
Renewable energy can only be generated when the sun is shining or the wind is blowing, and it operates in a use-it-or-lose-it fashion that can’t satisfy society’s constant demand for electricity.
Fossil fuels — and nuclear energy — have to kick in to compensate, unless there’s a way to stockpile renewable energy for later use.
The answer to this dilemma could lie in Meng’s West Loop lab, where a breakthrough this summer significantly increased the energy capacity and decreased the production cost of sodium-ion batteries.
“The world is depending on battery scientists to give us a less expensive renewable-based grid,” said University of Chicago climate economist Michael Greenstone. “The world is counting on Shirley.”