ULRI To Present Advanced Battery Research at HTCMC-12 and GFMAT-3

UL Research Institutes’ Electrochemical Safety Research Institute will contribute research leadership in advanced battery materials at the 12th International Conference on High Temperature Ceramic Matrix Composites (HTCMC‑12) and the 3rd Global Forum on Advanced Materials and Technologies for Sustainable Development (GFMAT‑3), taking place May 31-June 5 in San Diego, CA.

As part of the technical program, Vallabha Rao Rikka, Ph.D., lead research scientist with ULRI’s Electrochemical Safety Research team, will chair the GFMAT‑3 Symposium 6 session titled, ‘Advanced Batteries and Supercapacitors for Energy Storage Applications for ‘New and Emerging Electrochemistry’, beginning at 1:30 p.m. PDT on June 4. During the session, he will also deliver an invited technical presentation at 3:20 p.m. PDT titled “Binder‑enabled solvation control suppresses SEI invasion in silicon anodes.”

His presentation will focus on a lithium‑activated binder design that helps overcome key challenges facing silicon anodes, including large volume expansion and unwanted growth of the solid–electrolyte interphase. The work highlights binder‑enabled solvation engineering as a promising pathway toward durable, high‑capacity silicon anodes for long‑life lithium‑ion batteries.

Hosted by the American Ceramic Society, the conference convenes researchers, engineers, and industry stakeholders from across the energy sector to address emerging challenges and opportunities in materials innovation and sustainable technology development.