Agilent and University of Chicago Launch Center of Excellence for Energy Materials Research

Agilent CoE supports research on next-generation energy storage materials

A group of nine people in professional attire celebrate a ribbon-cutting ceremony in a brightly lit modern laboratory. Two individuals in the center are cutting a blue ribbon.

A ribbon cutting launched the Agilent Center of Excellence (CoE) for Energy Materials Research at the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering's Hyde Park Labs space on Oct. 27. From left: Agilent Business Development Director Jim Lynch, UChicago PME Prof. Laura Gagliardi, UChicago PME Prof. Matthew Tirrell, UChicago PME Prof. Shirley Meng, UChicago Vice President for Research Nadya Mason, Agilent Vice President and General Manager of the Gas Phase Division Warren B. Potts, Agilent Vice President of Sales Elaine Ricicki, UChicago PME research professional Shen Wang, UChicago PME Assoc. Prof. Shrayesh Patel and Argonne National Laboratory Deputy Laboratory Director for Science & Technology Sean L. Jones. (Photo by Elaina Eichorn)

Agilent Technologies Inc. (NYSE: A), a global leader in analytical and clinical laboratory technologies, and the University of Chicago, one of the world’s leading research universities, today announced a scientific collaboration to establish the Agilent Center of Excellence (CoE) for Energy Materials Research. 

The Agilent CoE will be based at the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering (UChicago PME) and will support the Energy Technologies Initiative (ETI), a partnership between UChicago PME and the University of Chicago’s Institute for Climate and Sustainable Growth focused on driving innovation in energy storage technologies through academic and industry collaboration. 

“Advancing energy storage research requires both scientific expertise and the analytical capabilities to understand how complex materials behave and change over time,” said Mike Zhang, senior vice president and president of Agilent’s Applied Markets Group. “By combining the University of Chicago’s interdisciplinary research strengths with Agilent’s advanced instrumentation and applications expertise, this Center will give researchers greater capabilities to investigate these materials, tackle some of the toughest challenges in battery and materials science, and accelerate progress toward new solutions.” 

The CoE will use Agilent instrumentation, including mass spectrometry and atomic spectroscopy, to help researchers investigate the materials and systems behind next-generation batteries, including batteries for electric vehicles and connected devices as well as grid-scale energy storage. 

“The most important questions in energy storage require expertise and tools from across disciplines. This partnership will expand the analytical capabilities available to battery researchers across the University and create new opportunities for faculty, students and trainees to work together. I’m excited that Agilent is helping strengthen the research environment needed to pursue this work across the University of Chicago and beyond,” said Stuart Rowan, interim dean of UChicago PME and faculty director for ETI. 

The CoE will support the work of the Energy Technologies Initiative by bringing together researchers from across the University of Chicago and other academic and industry partners. By combining this interdisciplinary expertise with Agilent instrumentation, the CoE will support the development of analytical methods and workflows for research on energy storage materials and systems. 

Shen Wang, a research professional at UChicago PME, has played a key role in establishing the Center, coordinating technical planning, instrument selection and installation, and application development in collaboration with Agilent.

Advances in energy storage will be important to applications ranging from electric transportation and connected devices to grid-scale energy systems. By expanding access to advanced analytical instrumentation and supporting application development, the CoE will help researchers investigate the materials and systems underlying these technologies. 

“Advancing battery research takes more than developing a promising material; we need to understand how materials perform, interact and change throughout a battery’s life,” said Y. Shirley Meng, Liew Family Professor at UChicago PME and co-director of the Energy Transition Network. Meng’s research combines first-principles, computation-guided materials discovery with advanced characterization using electron, neutron and photon sources. “The Center will give researchers across the University access to some of the most advanced analysis tools for deciphering the degradations in energy storage and conversion materials and devices.” 

Battery development increasingly depends on precise answers about composition, impurities, interfaces and degradation pathways, all of which can influence battery performance, lifetime, and safety. The CoE will bring advanced analytical capabilities into the research environment where those questions are being investigated. 

“The batteries we rely on today depend heavily on materials that can be costly, based on critical minerals, and challenging to recycle,” said Shrayesh Patel, associate professor at UChicago PME, a deputy director of ETI and director of the Center for Organic Battery Innovation (COBI). “At COBI, we're exploring whether organic materials can offer a different path—one that could make energy storage safer, more affordable, and more sustainable by leveraging earth-abundant elements. Expanding the range of materials we can use in batteries is an important part of building a more sustainable energy future.”