Arumugam Manthiram, Director of Texas Materials Institute and Professor in the Walker Department of Mechanical Engineering at UT Austin, is receiving the 2021 Battery Division Technology Award from The Electrochemical Society (ECS).

Manthiram Ram

Manthiram is recognized for his applied, technological development of sustainable and affordable battery chemistries and technology. He previously received the ECS Battery Division Research Award in 2014 and the Henry B. Linford Award for Distinguished Teaching from ECS in 2020.

“My overall vision is to realize sustainable, affordable battery technologies. We have successfully eliminated expensive cobalt from the current lithium-ion batteries and are currently doing work to replace metal-based electrode materials with sulfur in lithium batteries. We are also working on replacing lithium with sodium to create sodium-ion batteries because sodium is abundant in the ocean and widespread without any geopolitical tensions. In the next phase, we want to eliminate both lithium and metal-based electrodes to realize the “dream technology” sodium-sulfur batteries. Both sodium and sulfur are abundant and environmentally benign and sodium-sulfur batteries will eliminate mining of metals like cobalt, nickel, and manganese for batteries,” explains Manthiram.

Manthiram is the Cockrell Family Regents Chair in Engineering and joined the Walker Department of Mechanical Engineering faculty in 1991 after receiving his Ph.D. in Chemistry from the Indian Institute of Technology Madras (1981) and postdocs at the University of Oxford and UT Austin. He is also a Fellow of The Electrochemical Society, Materials Research Society, American Ceramic Society, Royal Society of Chemistry, American Association for the Advancement of Science, and World Academy of Materials and Manufacturing Engineering. He is an elected Academician of the World Academy of Ceramics. He delivered in Stockholm the 2019 Chemistry Nobel Prize Lecture on behalf of Professor John Goodenough.

The Electrochemical Society, a prestigious nonprofit professional society, has led the world in electrochemistry, solid state science and technology, and allied subjects since 1902. By publishing research, hosting meetings, fostering education, and collaborating with other organizations, ECS advances scientific theory and practice. Follow them on Twitter @ECSorg.