With electric vehicle (EV) sales projected to reach 38 million annually by 2030, the global race to decarbonize transportation has intensified. But behind the promise of cleaner mobility lies a complex challenge: how to build sustainable batteries without exacerbating environmental degradation or human rights concerns.

Lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) are everywhere in our lives. LIB application fields are even growing into military missions and advanced exploration, which require resistance to severe cold in the polar region of the Earth and in outer space. But even state-of-the-art LIBs suffer from huge performance degradation as temperatures decrease, and they stop operating at all in extreme cold.

The next five to 10 years will be an exciting time for perovskite solar technology to make the next giant leap, from lab to fab.

ChE's Gounder and ECE's Lukens are among five researchers at Purdue University who received the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE) earlier this month. This award is given by the U.S. government to outstanding scientists and engineers beginning their independent careers.

David Bernal has been invited to participate in the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine (NASEM) Second Connections to Sustain Science in Latin America symposium taking place March 11–13, 2025.