ADELPHI, Md. -- A recent review regarding breakthroughs in high-power and safe energy storage devices from a molecular scale perspective on the cover of Journal of Materials Chemistry A features contributions from three U.S. Army Research Laboratory authors.

Dr. Oleg Borodin, research scientist in ARL's Electrochemistry Branch, senior Oak Ridge Associated Universities researcher Dr. Jenel Vatamanu working under Borodin via the lab's Open Campus initiative, and Dr. Marco Olguin, ARL postdoctoral research associate, provided the collaborative perspective from ARL in the review.

Additional authors include Professor Gleb Yushin from the Georgia Institute of Technology and Professor Dmitry Bedrov from the University of Utah.

The research discussed stems from the collaborative effort between ARL, the Georgia Institute of Technology and the Multiscale Multidisciplinary Modeling of Electronic Materials Collaborative Research Alliance led by the University of Utah.

The manuscript summarizes recent breakthroughs in the area of charge storage in high-power devices, such as double layer capacitors and dual ion batteries, and presented new modeling results from ARL work aimed at improving understanding of the charge storage mechanism in these energy storage devices.

"This review article provided a critical overview of the recent trends in understanding and optimizing charge storage on the nanoscale," Borodin said. "It also summarized the recent contributions to the field of modeling energy storage devices on the nanoscale within the MSME CRA."

According to Borodin, multiscale modeling efforts outlined in the manuscript provide guidance to the rational design of the high power storage components in vehicle and communications electronic systems such as starter systems or radio power adapters that will unburden the Warfighter.

"Progress in the development of high-power and safe energy storage devices is often hindered by a lack of fundamental understanding of the charge storage mechanisms on the nanoscale," Borodin said. "Multiscale modeling provided fundamental knowledge of the key parameters influencing energy and power density needed to improve energy storage components in vehicle and electronic communications systems and the degradation mechanisms, which shorten their useful life. Insight from the modeling studies will provide directions for optimizing energy storage devices being explored both internally at ARL and by external researchers."

For Borodin, to be featured on this cover is of significant importance to not only him and his fellow researchers, but to the Army and the Soldier.

"Selection of this article to be featured on the cover of Journal of Materials Chemistry A indicates recognition by the editors of the importance of contributions from ARL, the University of Utah and Georgia Tech to the development of the area of charge storage at nanoscale that will positively impact the way Soldiers conduct their missions on the battlefield," Borodin said.

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The U.S. Army Research Laboratory, currently celebrating 25 years of excellence in Army science and technology, is part of the U.S. Army Research, Development and Engineering Command, which has the mission to provide innovative research, development and engineering to produce capabilities that provide decisive overmatch to the Army against the complexities of the current and future operating environments in support of the joint warfighter and the nation. RDECOM is a major subordinate command of the U.S. Army Materiel Command.