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Profile Of A Scientist: Building A Better Battery

Lithium-ion batteries are displayed  at the Panasonic booth during the 2015 International CES at the Las Vegas Convention Center on January 6, 2015 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (David Becker/Getty Images)
Lithium-ion batteries are displayed at the Panasonic booth during the 2015 International CES at the Las Vegas Convention Center on January 6, 2015 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (David Becker/Getty Images)

Lithium-ion batteries are the chemical workhorse of the digital age. From electric vehicles to laptops to smartphones, Li-ion chemistry keeps our mobile world running.

The proliferation of electric vehicles and renewable energy ensures the need for powerful batteries will only grow, but scientists and engineers are confronting some fundamental limits of the technology.

As part of a week-long series profiling scientists, Here & Now‘s Jeremy Hobson speaks with Lynden Archer of Cornell University about building a better battery.

Hear more from our series on science in America

Guest

Lynden Archer, director of Cornell University’s School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering.

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