Jeff R. Dahn 

Professor and NSERC/3M Canada Ltd. Industrial Research Chair — Materials for Advanced Batteries, Materials Science

BSc (Dalhousie), MSc (UBC), PhD (UBC)

E-mail: jeff.dahn@dal.ca
Phone: (902) 494-2312
Fax: (902) 494-1310

* Accepting Graduate Students 
 
Research Interests: Industrial Research Chair, Professor, New Materials for Advanced Batteries, X-ray Scattering, Electrochemistry, Synchrotron Radiation. 

Rechargeable Batteries play a critical role in today's world of mobile communications and portable electronics. Furthermore, the age of electric vehicles is about to begin and advanced batteries are necessary. The lithium-ion battery is the state-of-the-a rt rechargeable power source. It stores about twice the energy per unit mass or volume of conventional technologies and is hence very attractive. Sales of small lithium-ion batteries will be $4-billion dollars in 2000. The fundamental physics and chemistry of the Li-ion battery is based on a process known as "intercalation"; the reversible insertion of guest atoms (like lithium) into host solids (the battery electrode materials). Our research focuses on the synthesis and characterization of new intercalation compounds which can store more guest atoms per formula weight of host. This leads to batteries with even higher energy densities and allows reduction of the size of battery packs to power the same equipment.

Students involved in these studies learn to synthesize new materials using a variety of techniques including Chemical Vapor Deposition, Sol-Gel methods and direct solid-state reactions. Materials are characterized using X-ray and Neutron Scattering, Electron Spectroscopy at Synchrotron sources, Thermal Analysis, Gas Adsorption Porosimetry, and by electrochemical methods in lithium batteries. In addition, in-situ methods using electrochemical cells with appropriate "windows" are used to monitor changes to the host compounds as a function of intercalant composition. An Accelerating Rate Calorimeter has just been aquired to study the reactions which occur in lithium-ion cells at high temperatures. Theoretical studies to explain the behaviour of these materia ls are also routinely made.

The group has strong collaborations with a variety of groups, including the Lithium Battery group at 3M in Minneapolis. Typically, graduates of this laboratory have found immediate employment in the battery and battery materials industries.

Visit Our Lab: Combinatorial Development of Advanced Materials

Biography: Jeff Dahn is recognized worldwide as a distinguished scientist in the field of advanced lithium batteries. His approach has been to develop fundamental understanding of new electrode materials and new cell chemistries. He is recognized as one of the pioneering developers of the lithium-ion battery that is now used worldwide in laptop computers and cell-phones. His work forms the basis by which the reaction of lithium with graphitic and nanoporous carbons, used as negative electrodes, is understood. He is the author of over 315 refereed journal papers and 46 inventions with patents issued or filed. Dahn's recent work has concentrated on the application of Combinatorial Materials Science methods to battery and fuel cell materials problems.

Dahn is one of Canada's leading materials researchers, as evidenced by a No. 6 world-wide ranking for impact in the area of Materials Science by ISI between 1995 and 1999. Dahn is one of only eight Canadians in the fields of Materials Science or Physics to be listed as a highly cited researcher by ISI.

Jeff Dahn was born in Bridgeport, Conn. in 1957 and emigrated with his family to Nova Scotia, Canada in 1970. He obtained his BSc in Physics from Dalhousie University (1978) and his PhD from the University of British Columbia in 1982. Dahn then worked at the National Research Council of Canada (82-85) and at Moli Energy Limited (85-90) before taking up a faculty position in the Physics Department at Simon Fraser University in 1990. He returned to Dalhousie University in 1996.

Jeff Dahn has always interacted strongly with industry. During his years at Simon Fraser University (90-96) he collaborated strongly with the R+D team at NEC/Moli Energy Canada (Now E-One/Moli Energy Canada) in particular with Ulrich von Sacken and Jan Reimers. The success of this collaboration led, in part, to the appointment of Dr. Dahn as the NSERC/3M Canada Industrial Research Chair in Materials for Advanced Batteries at Dalhousie University in 1996. Dahn now interacts strongly with 3M's programs in battery materials, fuel cell materials and respirator carbons. The success of Dahn's research programs benefits from the quality his collaborators at 3M, in particular, Larry Krause, Leif Christensen, Mark Debe, Radoslav Atanasoski and Simon Smith.