OAK RIDGE NATIONAL LABORATORY

“At ORNL, we try to build practicality into our work, using our deep 

bench of scientists and engineers to address science gaps across 

scales for an approach that can be readily adopted by industry.”

—Electrification and Energy Infrastructure Section Head Ilias Belharouak

Energy Storage 

PROTOTYPING 

new technologies

INTEGRATING

energy storage 

systems

IMPROVING

battery safety 

and performance

DEVELOPING 

storage solutions for 

vehicles and the grid 

EVALUATING 

materials from 

nanoscale to 

pilot scale

Energy storage technologies are essential to advancing vehicle electrification and enabling a clean and resilient power grid. Oak Ridge 

National Laboratory (ORNL) translates scientific discoveries into scalable technologies and works closely with industry to develop energy 

storage solutions that boost energy efficiency, increase energy security, and support domestic supply chains and manufacturing. 

Capabilities include world-class high-performance computing; materials discovery, scaling, prototyping, manufacturing, and multiscale 

evaluation; battery recycling; and energy storage system integration.

Energy Storage Solutions

Megawatt-scale storage for the grid—Creating systems that can store large 

amounts of electricity to stabilize the power grid

Fast charging for electric vehicles—Developing new battery technologies and 

wireless charging that can power a vehicle as quickly as fueling up at the pump

Roll-to-roll manufacturing—Boosting America’s competitiveness through new 

production processes and technologies

Cobalt-free cathodes—Demonstrating the effectiveness of new materials to enable 

high-performance lithium-ion batteries without cobalt

Solid-state batteries—Advancing the development of new solid electrolytes for a system 

with high energy density and safety

ReCell Center—Supporting the US Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) first lithium-ion battery 

recycling center by designing cells to optimize recyclability

Beyond vehicle batteries—Developing novel approaches ranging from transactive control of 

building energy loads and geothermal energy storage to battery technologies for aircraft platforms 

and security applications

Energy storage 

materials 

research

at ORNL
Oak Ridge National Laboratory is managed by UT-Battelle LLC for the US Department of Energy January 2023

CONTACT:

Ilias Belharouak

Electrification and Energy 

Infrastructure Section Head

belharouaki@ornl.gov

865-576-7342

One Bethel Valley Road, 

Oak Ridge, TN 37831

ornl.gov/

directorate/

estd

Rapid prototyping—The DOE 

Battery Manufacturing Facility at ORNL, 

the nation’s most comprehensive 

roll-to-roll research facility, prototypes 

new materials and processes with 

scalable results

Materials synthesis and 

characterization—Deep expertise 

in the synthesis and evaluation of 

new materials, including polymers 

and electrolytes, and the study of 

material interfaces

Neutron science—Two of the world’s 

most powerful sources of neutrons for 

research, provides a nondestructive 

view inside energy storage devices

High-performance 

computing—The world’s first 

exascale supercomputer and world’s 

fastest supercomputer

Power electronics and 

controls—Development of new 

controls, devices, and systems, 

including transactive controls and 

wireless charging technologies

Grid monitoring and 

analysis—Dynamic modeling 

of interconnections, cyber-aware 

advanced sensors, and secure 

communications and controls

Recent Impacts

• Discovered a new class of cobalt-free materials derived from lithium 

iron aluminum nickelate to reduce the cost of vehicle batteries 

• Continued to explore the structure and performance of novel 

composite electrolytes to advance solid-state batteries

• Developed an electrochemical pulse method to improve materials 

joining and heal dendrites in solid-state battery architecture

• Provided the Open-Access Virtual Integrated Battery Environment 

platform, simulating battery performance from cells to packs

• Delivered a fast formation protocol that shortens battery 

production steps by a factor of six and improves capacity retention

• Developed novel components to advance low-cost, redox flow 

batteries for megawatt-scale energy storage

• Developed solventless electrode coatings using electron beam, UV 

curing, and freeze-tape casting

• Provided the new Ground-Level Integrated Diverse Energy Storage 

system for low-cost, efficient, flexible mechanical storage of 

electricity in pressurized vessels

• Developed methods for efficient, nontoxic battery 

recycling and reuse

• Analyzed the interface and bulk of solid-state battery materials 

using advanced characterization techniques

Comprehensive Capabilities