Kamila Wiaderek, a chemist within the X-ray Science Division of the Advanced Photon Source, a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science User Facility at DOE’s Argonne National Laboratory, shared this year’s prestigious Charles Hatchett Award with an international research team.
The award is given for originality, technical excellence and the best paper on the science and technology of niobium-based materials. Wiaderek and her international colleagues — Kent J. Griffith, Lauren E. Marbella and Clare P. Grey (University of Cambridge) and Giannantonio Cibin (Diamond Light Source) — received the award for their paper published in Nature: “Niobium tungsten oxides for high-rate lithium-ion energy storage.”
“I’m honored to share this award with a team of extremely talented researchers,” Wiaderek said. “Our research is exciting and has the potential for practical applications as we look to find new materials that could improve the charging speed and storage capacity of rechargeable batteries for use in mobile devices and electric vehicles.”
The International Panel for the Charles Hatchett Award commented: “This paper deals with a very important research topic with potential commercial applications involving the use of niobium: how to significantly increase the capacity and reduce the charging time of Li-ion batteries. The potential applications of the technology could have clear sustainability-related impacts by promoting the use of noncarbon energy storage and usage.”
This year, the recipients of the 41st Charles Hatchett Award were presented with their medals at the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining (IOM3) Premier Awards Dinner, July 11 in London. Wiaderek’s research is funded by the DOE Office of Science, Basic Energy Sciences Program.
Argonne National Laboratory seeks solutions to pressing national problems in science and technology. The nation’s first national laboratory, Argonne conducts leading-edge basic and applied scientific research in virtually every scientific discipline. Argonne researchers work closely with researchers from hundreds of companies, universities, and federal, state and municipal agencies to help them solve their specific problems, advance America’s scientific leadership and prepare the nation for a better future. With employees from more than 60 nations, Argonne is managed by UChicago Argonne, LLC for the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science.
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