Vilas G. Pol is a Professor of Chemical Engineering at Purdue University, IN, USA. He authored/co-authored >270 research publications (h index 58), an inventor on 20 issued US patents and 17+ applications. He delivered hundreds of invited, keynote and plenary talks including ‘TEDx’. Purdue University honored him with Outstanding Engineering Teachers, Most Impactful Inventors, Seed for Success, Bravo, and Purdue Faculty Scholar awards. He is honored with 35+ prestigious awards from professional AIChE, ACS, MRS, ACerS, TMS and Carbon societies. He also received 2015 R and D 100 award as well as two Guinness World RecordsTM. He is a fellow of Royal Society of Chemistry (FRSC).

In 2019, Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded to Lithium-ion battery (LIBs)innovation. Purdue University’s ViPER (Vilas Pol’s Energy Research) group specialized in innovating anodes, cathodes, binders, ion conductive ceramics, salts, fire suppressing molecules as well as understanding their fundamental interplay to make semi-solid-state LIBs fundamentally safer. In one of the case studies, the cell comprised of LiFePO4/tailored electrolyte/graphite was in-situ monitored between 25 to 300 oC employing multimodule calorimetry for its thermal runaway behavior. Less than 40 J/g exothermic heat was measured repeatedly, on the contrary the analogous cell with conventional liquid electrolyte released significantly higher (>1000 J/g) exothermic heat. This talk will discuss ViPER’s recent efforts on making LIBs thermally and mechanically safer. A glimpse on the recent invention on the early detection/sensing of gases/VOCs informing battery management system to circumvent calamitous LIBs thermal runaway and fire will be provided. Moreover, the talk will demonstrate ultra-low temperature (≤ -100 degree Celsius) performance of LIBs with solvation shell tailoring of innovative electrolyte.