Jeff Dahn (born in 1957 in the United States and emigrated to

Nova Scotia Nova Scotia is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada, located on its east coast. It is one of the three Maritime Canada, Maritime provinces and Population of Canada by province and territory, most populous province in Atlan ...

, Canada in 1970) is a Professor in the Department of Physics & Atmospheric Science and the Department of Chemistry at

Dalhousie University Dalhousie University (commonly known as Dal) is a large public research university in Nova Scotia, Canada, with three campuses in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Halifax, a fourth in Bible Hill, Nova Scotia, Bible Hill, and a second medical school campus ...

. He is recognized as one of the pioneering developers of the

lithium-ion battery A lithium-ion or Li-ion battery is a type of rechargeable battery that uses the reversible intercalation of Li+ ions into electronically conducting solids to store energy. Li-ion batteries are characterized by higher specific energy, energ ...

, which is now used worldwide in laptop computers, cell-phones, cars and many other mobile devices. Although Dr. Dahn made numerous contribution to the development of

lithium-ion batteries A lithium-ion or Li-ion battery is a type of rechargeable battery that uses the reversible intercalation of Li+ ions into electronically conducting solids to store energy. Li-ion batteries are characterized by higher specific energy, energy ...

, his most important discovery was intercalation of Li+ ions into graphite from solvents comprising

ethylene carbonate Ethylene carbonate (sometimes abbreviated EC) is the organic compound with the formula (CH2O)2CO. It is classified as the cyclic carbonate ester of ethylene glycol and carbonic acid. At room temperature (25 °C) ethylene carbonate is a tra ...

, which was the final piece of the puzzle in the invention of commercial Li-ion battery. Nevertheless, Dahn was not selected for the 2019 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, which recognized only John Goodenough, M. Stanley Whittingham and

Akira Yoshino is a Japanese chemist. He is a fellow of Asahi Kasei, Asahi Kasei Corporation and a professor at Meijo University in Nagoya. He created the first safe, production-viable lithium-ion battery, which became used widely in cellular phones and noteb ...

Education

Dahn obtained his B.Sc. in

Physics Physics is the scientific study of matter, its Elementary particle, fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge whi ...

from

in 1978 and his Ph.D. from the

University of British Columbia The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a Public university, public research university with campuses near University of British Columbia Vancouver, Vancouver and University of British Columbia Okanagan, Kelowna, in British Columbia, Canada ...

in 1982.

Career

Following his PhD, Dahn did research at the

National Research Council of Canada The National Research Council Canada (NRC; ) is the primary national agency of the Government of Canada dedicated to science and technology research and development. It is the largest federal research and development organization in Canada. Th ...

from 1982 until 1985, before working at E-One Moli Energy until 1990. At that time, he took up a faculty position in the Physics Department at

Simon Fraser University Simon Fraser University (SFU) is a Public university, public research university in British Columbia, Canada. It maintains three campuses in Greater Vancouver, respectively located in Burnaby (main campus), Surrey, British Columbia, Surrey, and ...

. Six years later, in 1996, Dahn returned to

as a professor in the Department of Physics & Atmospheric Science and began to focus his research on lithium-ion batteries. From the time that he started doing research, Dahn has worked closely with industry. During his years at

he worked with E-One Moli Energy. Upon moving to Dalhousie in 1996, Dahn became the NSERC/3M Canada Industrial Research Chair in Materials for Advanced Batteries, a position that he was to hold for the next 20 years. In June 2016, Dahn began a 5-year research partnership with

Tesla Motors Tesla, Inc. ( or ) is an American multinational automotive and clean energy company. Headquartered in Austin, Texas, it designs, manufactures and sells battery electric vehicles (BEVs), stationary battery energy storage devices from hom ...

, in order to improve the energy density and lifetime of lithium-ion batteries, along with reducing their cost. In 2021, Dahn and his team at Dalhousie University extended its research contract with Tesla for 5 years. Also in 2021, Dahn was named Chief Scientific Advisor to Novonix, an Australian-based battery materials and technology company. Effective June 15, 2023 Jeff Dahn is on the Scientific Advisory Board for Metamaterials, Inc. (Nasdaq:MMAT)(FSE:MMAT)

Awards and honors

Dahn has received numerous awards including: International Battery Materials Association (IBA) Research Award (1995); Herzberg Medal, Canadian Association of Physicists (1996); ECS Battery Division Research Award (1996); Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada (2001); Medal for Excellence in Teaching (2009) from the Canadian Association of Physicists, The Rio-Tinto Alcan Award from the Canadian Institute of Chemistry (2010), the ECS Battery Division Technology Award (2011) the Yeager award from the International Battery Materials Association (2016), the Inaugural Governor General's Innovation Award (2016) and the Gerhard Herzberg Canada Gold Medal for Science and Engineering (2017).

References

External links

Google Scholar profile
Canadian physicists 1957 births Living people {{Canada-scientist-stub