Montana State doctoral student receives prestigious Department of Energy research award

BOZEMAN - A brand-new cellphone holds a charge noticeably longer than one that's been used for a while, but its battery also will inevitably lose capacity as it ages - a phenomenon that represents more than just an inconvenience for consumers of electronic devices.

In fact, battery degradation has been identified as a challenge of significant importance to the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Science, the nation's largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences. To further its mission of addressing energy, environmental and nuclear challenges, the office recently awarded Office of Science Graduate Student Research grants to 86 top U.S. students, including Montana State University doctoral student Charles McDaniel.

Office of Science Graduate Student Research projects are designed to advance awardees' doctoral theses while providing access to the expertise, resources and capabilities available at DOE national laboratories. McDaniel's award will enable him to spend a year researching battery degradation at Argonne National Laboratory in Illinois with Daniel Abraham, a senior materials scientist and leading researcher in the field of lithium-ion batteries.

"The Graduate Student Research program is a unique opportunity for graduate students to complete their Ph.D. training with teams of world-class experts aiming to answer some of the most challenging problems in fundamental science," said Harriet Kung, acting director of the DOE Office of Science. "Gaining access to cutting-edge tools for scientific discovery at DOE national laboratories will be instrumental in preparing the next generation of scientific leaders."

McDaniel's interest in batteries developed in MSU professor Nicholas Stadie's research group, which he joined in 2021 shortly after beginning his doctoral studies in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry in the College of Letters and Science. Much of the research in Stadie's lab pertains to energy storage.

"I loved the application - batteries are important to solving the energy crisis - and I loved the hands-on and holistic approach in the lab," McDaniel said. "We work on the design and synthesis of novel materials and characterize them and apply them in the lab. I get to design and put materials in batteries that no one has ever imagined before."

Intrigued by the phenomenon of battery degradation, McDaniel applied for the Graduate Student Research program after Abraham came to MSU to speak last spring.

"Daniel Abraham takes industrially relevant battery materials and figures out why they degrade," McDaniel said. "I want to figure out where the lithium ions are bonding within a battery. How might these bonds lead to degradation over time?"

Stadie said Argonne National Laboratory is one of the largest research facilities for producing and studying battery components, with experimental equipment and capabilities specifically tailored for investigating how batteries work on an atomic level. He predicted that McDaniel - whom he described as "a free agent for good ideas" - will thrive in Abraham's lab.

"Charlie's curiosity will be met with an embarrassment of riches in terms of tools to test his theories," Stadie said. "He'll establish understanding of and connections to these tools that he'll be able to tap into for the rest of his academic life."

That's likely to be for a long time. After McDaniel completes his studies, he plans to pursue a career as a research professor, which blends his interests in teaching, research and community service. At MSU, he has exhibited the requisite skills: In 2023, he was named Outstanding Graduate Teaching Assistant in science by the College of Letters and Science, an award that recognized the popularity of his recitations for undergraduate general chemistry students. And Stadie said McDaniel has made numerous discoveries in completely different areas of chemical research, including one - a new hypothesis for how lithium storage works in exotic molecular hydrocarbon electrodes - that is "likeliest to become his hallmark."

McDaniel said he has been extremely satisfied with his experiences at MSU and the opportunities they have afforded.

"Nick's lab is small enough that, compared to some graduate schools, there is much more time for direct mentoring," he said. "MSU is a place where I am very encouraged and can get a ton of work done and be efficient and thoughtful.

"It's a very warm community," he added. "I've been supported by so many people, especially the professors on my doctoral committee."