Bio
Dr. Guang Yang is an electrochemical material scientist with extensive experience in materials, devices, and advanced operando characterization tools development for next-generation batteries and sustainable energy conversion technologies. These initiatives include high-energy all-solid-state batteries, redox flow batteries for grid-scale energy storage, Li/Na-S batteries, and electrochemical CO2 conversion technologies. He has published over 90 peer-reviewed publications (H-index = 33), authored two book chapters, and filed eight patents and invention disclosures. Dr. Yang has received several prestigious awards, such as the ARPA-E Early Career Award, the RSC Emerging Investigator Award, and the UT-Battelle Outstanding Scholarly Output Award.
Current key team members:
- Dr. Michelle Lehmann (Polymer Synthetic Chemist, battery membranes and solid-state battery electrode binders development)
- Dr. Wenda Wu (Postdoc Fellow, redox flow and CO2 batteries redoxmers and membranes development, small molecule and inorganic synthesis)
- Dr. Chanho Kim (Postdoc Fellow, all-solid-state battery electrode scalable synthesis, processing [wet and dry], solid-state battery assembly, and evaluations)
- Dr. Yuanshun Li (Postdoc Fellow, solid-state electrolyte membranes development and multimodal characterizations)
- Andre Adam (GRO Fellow, co-mentor with Prof. Xianglin Li, air and CO2 batteries materials development, and mass transport modeling)
- Fuead Hasan (GRO Fellow, co-mentor with Prof. Christopher M. Bejger, next-gen aqueous redox flow batteries)
- Adam Hsieh (Research Assistant, co-mentor with Prof. Nian Liu, redox flow battery membrane development)
Professional Experience
- R&D Staff, Energy Storage&Conversion Group, ORNL (2020-present)
- Joint Faculty, Bredesen Center – University of Tennessee, Knoxville (2021-present)
- Postdoc, Energy Storage&Conversion Group, ORNL (2017-20)
- ASTRO Fellow, Energy Storage&Conversion Group, ORNL (2016)
- Research Assistant, National High Magnetic Field Laboratory, U.S. (2013-16)
- Teaching Assistant, Florida State University, U.S. (2012-16)
Awards
- RSC Emerging Investigator Award
- ARPA-E Early Career Researcher Award
- UT-Battelle Out Standing Scholarly Output
- 91 ASTRO Scholarship
- Ministry of Science, Research and the Arts Baden-Wuertternberg scholarship
Education
Ph.D. Chemical Engineering, Florida State University, U.S. (2017)
Thesis topic: Facilitate Research in Lithium Batteries by Surface-enhanced Raman Spectroscopy (SERS)
- M.S. Advanced Materials, Universität Ulm, Germany (2012)
- B.S. Biomedical Engineering (minor medical electronics), Southeast University, China (2009)
Professional Service
- American Chemical Society (ACS) Spring, 2025, “High-Energy Battery Frontiers: Innovating Materials and Technologies" Symposium organizer
- Beyond Lithium XIV Conference 2024 (with six DOE national labs, NASA, and IBM), co-organizer
- Associate Editor for Electrochemical Energy Conversion and Storage, Frontiers in Energy Research, 2022
- The electrochemical Society (ECS241) Meeting A02 Symposium, 2022, Lithium Ion Batteries Symposium organizer
- Guest Editor for Frontiers in Energy Research, special issue “Solid-State Electrolytes for Next-Generation Energy Storage”, 2020
- 91 6TH ORPA Symposium, 2018, Chair, Physical Sciences Computational
- 2018 MRS Fall Meeting Session ET07.07: Surface and Interface Engineering for Energy Materials, Session Chair
- 2018 MRS Fall Meeting Session CM03.18: In Situ/Operando Analysis of Electrochemical Materials and Interfaces, Session Chair
Active journal reviewer for Nature Communications, Nature Sustainability, Science Advances, Joule, Energy & Environmental Science, Advanced Materials, Advanced Energy Materials, Advanced Functional Materials, Materials Horizons, ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, Langmuir, Journal of The Electrochemical Society, Energy Storage Materials, Journal of Power Sources, Journal of Applied Physics A, etc
Professional Affiliations
- Member of the Electrochemical Society (ECS)
- Member of American Chemical Society (ACS)
- Member of American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE)
- Member of American Physical Society (APS)
Specialized Equipment
Solid-state Batteries:
- High throughput all-solid-state battery electrochemical testing bed (~200 channels)
- Solid-state battery operando pressure monitor system (12 channels)
- Scalable electrode and solid-state electrolyte membranes (sulfide) processing system devices (isostatic press, slurry mixer, air-tight planetary ball mills, ultrasolic homogenizer, tape caster, slot die caster, hot roller press, spray coater, etc)
Solid-state battery single-layer prototype cell devices (sheet die cutter, ultrasonic spot welding machine, heating vacuum sealer)
Redox-Flow Batteries:
- Multiscale redox flow battery testing beds (10W, 100W, 2kW [planned])
Glove-box enclosed redox flow battery testing beds for non-aqueous RFBs
Advanced Battery Characterizations:
- Operando Neutron tomography and radiography (with Dr. Yuxuan Zhang and Dr. Hassina Bilheux)
- Operando Electrochemical Raman spectroscopy & imaging with machine learning analysis tools
- AFM-Raman system
- Glove box-enclosed Raman spectroscopy/FT-IR for air-sensitive materials
- Fluorescence Spectroscopy; Ultraviolet (UV) spectroscopy
Trademarks and Patents
Yang, Nanda, Hallinan, Mills, and Chen, "Fabrication of thin film sulfide solid-state electrolyte through slurry processing route “US Patent Application Serial No. 63/455,305. (2023)
Yang G, Nanda J, Veith GM, inventors; UT Battelle LLC, assignee. Non-carbonate electrolytes stabilize silicon anodes. United States patent application US 17/713,449.(2022 Oct 6)
Yang G, Nanda J, Saito T, Delnick FM, inventors; UT Battelle LLC, assignee. Mechanically robust solid electrolyte compositions for alkali and beyond alkali metal batteries. United States patent application US 17/397,233. (2022 Feb 10)
D T Hallinan Jr., G Yang. Gold Nanoparticle Monolayers from Sequential Interfacial Ligand Exchange and Migration in a Three-Phase System. US9911520B2 (Mar 06, 2018)
D T Hallinan Jr., G Yang. Alkylamine-gold monolayers having tunable electrical and optical properties. US Provisional Patent Application U.S. 62/252,944 (Nov 09, 2015)
Yang G, Gu N, Liu J. A microwave device with adjustable multiple parameters for nanoparticles self-assembly. Chinese Patent, application number: 201110005046·9