The mission of the Energy Materials Center at Cornell (emc<
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the development and improved performance of materials for both electrodes at which storage or conversion occurs
understanding their internal interfaces, such as SEI layers in batteries and electrocatalyst supports in fuel cells, and methods for structuring them to enable high mass transport as well as high ionic and electronic conductivity
development of ion-conducting electrolytes for batteries and fuel cells (separately) and other separator components, as needed
and development of methods for the characterization of these systems under operating conditions (operando methods) Generally, our work took industry and DOE report findings of current materials as a point of departure to focus on novel material sets for improved performance. In addition, some of our work focused on studying existing materials, for example observing battery solvent degradation, fuel cell catalyst coarsening or monitoring lithium dendrite growth, employing in operando methods developed within the center.