Graduate Student Seminar
September 26, 2025
12:45 p.m. ET
7500 Wean Hall
From Electrolyte Chemistry to Autonomous Discovery: Highly Concentrated Electrolytes and Hypothesis Generation in Self-Driving Labs
Electrolytes play a critical role in energy storage systems, particularly in addressing the growing demand for cost-effective and adaptable solutions that support both transportation and stationary applications. As the power grid continues to evolve, advanced energy storage technologies are essential for improving reliability, affordability, security, and resilience. This presentation will focus on the fundamental materials science and electrochemistry of highly concentrated electrolytes, with a particular emphasis on their application in redox flow batteries. Key topics will include solvation structure, redox mechanisms, proton activity, and pathway regulation in aqueous systems. The talk will also explore the integration of autonomous experimentation in electrolyte development, highlighting how large language models can support hypothesis generation and accelerate the discovery of new chemical knowledge.
Wei Wang
Laboratory Fellow, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL)
Dr. Wang currently serves as the Deputy Director of the Energy Storage Research Alliance (ESRA)—an Energy Innovation Hub funded by the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science, Basic Energy Sciences program. From 2019 to 2024, he was the Director of the Energy Storage Materials Initiative, a PNNL laboratory-directed R&D effort focused on advancing AI- and automation-enabled platforms to accelerate scientific discovery. As part of this initiative, he initiated and continues to lead the development of PNNL’s self-driving materials research laboratory: the Materials Innovation through Robotics and AI Laboratory (MIRAL).
Dr. Wang has published more than 120 peer-reviewed journal articles and was named a top 1% Clarivate Analytics Highly Cited Researcher in 2018. He holds 23 patents in energy-related technologies, with multiple industry licenses. He is a member of the Washington State Academy of Sciences and a recipient of multiple awards, including the R&D 100 Award, Battelle Distinguished Inventor Award, and the U.S. EPA Green Chemistry Challenge Award. Dr. Wang joined PNNL in 2009 after receiving his Ph.D. in Materials Science and Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University.
Upcoming Events
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January 23 2026
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January 30 2026
10:00 AM ET
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Fountain of Youth: metals that resist fatigue and heal themselves, presented by Brad Boyce, Sandia National Laboratories
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February 4 2026
8:30 AM - 2:00 PM ET
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February 6 2026
10:00 AM ET
Materials Science and Engineering
presented by Kaushik Bhattacharya, Caltech
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February 13 2026
10:00 AM ET
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Interfacial Fracture in Soft Polymer Networks: Revisiting Gent's Picture, presented by Gabriel Sanoja Lopez, University of Texas, Austin
CUC McConomy Auditorium
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February 20 2026
10:00 AM ET
Materials Science and Engineering
High-Fidelity Atomistic Simulations of Chemistry-Microstructure Interactions in Metals, presented by Rodrigo Freitas, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
CUC McConomy Auditorium