Su Lab - News

Paper Publication

2026/7/17 We developed a dual-halide ionic liquid electrolyte that enables a highly reversible six-electron iodine redox reaction while suppressing polyiodide shuttling and improving Zn interfacial stability. The resulting Zn–I2 batteries achieve high capacity together with excellent long-term cycling stability. I thought this work might be of interest, given your program's focus on zinc and other multivalent-ion batteries.

This work is published in the Journal of Materials Chemistry A.

Grant/Award

2026/7/1 Dr. Laisuo Su received a subcontract from DOE/TTO program through Argonne National Laboratory.

This project focuses on the development of Li/Air batteries.

Grant/Award

2026/6/1 Dr. Laisuo Su received a new industry-sponsored research collaboration project with CBMM.

This project focuses on the development of Nb-containing battery materials, including cathodes, electrodes, and cell prototypes, with the goal of advancing next-generation energy storage technologies. We are excited to work closely with the CBMM team and to explore how fundamental materials design can translate into practical performance in battery systems.

Paper Publication

2026/5/28 We developed a cost-competitive amorphous xLi3PO4-TaCl5 polyanion cluster solid electrolyte synthesized through low-energy ball milling with decent conductivity and excellent compatability with high-voltage cathode. We found that PO4 incorporation primarily distorts and softens the Cl sublattice, which facilitates Li-ion transport through the disordered halide framework. This work highlights how polyanion incorporation and structural disorder engineering can be used to design next-generation halide solid electrolytes with improved performance and potentially lower cost.

This work is published in Nano Energy.

Grant/Award

2026/5/21 Dr. Laisuo Su received the Seed Program for Interdisciplinary Research as the PI from UT Dallas. (Co-PI: Prof. Jie Zhang from MechE)

Project title: Physics-Informed Detection of Battery Failures and Cyber-Physical Attacks

Paper Publication

2026/4/28 We published an article in Energy Storage Materials on the topic of molecularly crowded electrolytes. This work is funded by NSF (Award #2532756).

A key challenge in aqueous zinc batteries is the high reactivity of water, which limits voltage and long-term stability. Instead of relying solely on high salt concentration, we explore molecular crowding as a strategy to regulate the electrolyte environment. We show that molecular crowding can disrupt the hydrogen-bond network of water while largely preserving the Zn2+ solvation structure. (The molecular crowding agent does not get into the first Zn2+ coordination shell)

Grant/Award

2026/2/4 I am honored to join the TAMEST 2026 Protégé Class.

During the meeting, our work on developing future battery technologies was selected for in-person judging at the Texas Academy of Medicine, Engineering, Science & Technology (TAMEST) 2026 Annual Conference and received the Audience Choice Award as part of the TAMEST Protégé Program.

This award provides me the opportunity to present our research to an audience that includes many National Academy members and Nobel Laureates. Sincere thanks to my nominator, Dr. Babu Chalamala (NAE), the TAMEST audience for their engagement, and especially my students for their hard work and dedication.

Paper Publication

2026/1/12 We published an article in ACS Materials Letters, in which we demonstrate how orthogonal design of experiments (DOE) offers a systematic and efficient approach to exploring mechanochemical synthesis parameters.

Grant/Award

2026/1/8 Dr. Laisuo Su received a DOD STTR Phase 1 grant (lead company, Solidion Technology) as a co-PI to develop fiber batteries for Army applications. (Topic Number: A25D-008)

News Release: https://dallasinnovates.com/dallas-solidion-gets-u-s-army-grant-for-fiber-based-battery-system-will-partner-with-utd-on-research/

Grant/Award

2026/1/5 Dr. Laisuo Su received the ADR's Initiatives for Growth, New Ideas and Technology Exploration (IGNITE) program from the Jonsson School of Engineering and Computer Science at UT Dallas.

Paper Publication

2025/11/3 We published an article in Cell Reports Physical Science by Cell Press that highlights the safety and security aspects of batteries in electric urban air mobility (eUAM), where batteries must not only be energy-dense and lightweight but also resilient against both thermal and cyber-physical threats.

Grant/Award

2025/9/8 Dr. Laisuo Su received the 248th ECS Meeting Travel Grant.

Student Achievement

2025/8/2 Both undergraduate students won the best poster awards for their summer research in Dr. Su's lab. Congratulations!

Samantha won the Office of Undergraduate Education SPUR Award [Link]
Neal won the Dept of Computer Science SPUR Award [Link]

UT Dallas - Argonne MOU Signing

2025/7/28 Argonne and The University of Texas at Dallas to strengthen collaboration in battery sciences and critical materials development. With the MOU, we will work closely with Argonne in the future to develop battery materials and advanced characterization. [Link] (I am on the right side of the picture, first row).

Grant/Award

2025/7/21 Dr. Laisuo Su received a single-PI NSF award from the CBET Electrochemical Systems program, titled “Uncovering Molecular Crowding Effects for Rational Design of Electrolytes in Zinc-Ion Batteries” This is a 3-year project starting on 9/1/2025. [Link]

Paper Publication

2025/7/1 We published a research paper in Materials Today Energy titled "Dual-objective optimization of lithium metal battery electrolytes via machine learning" [Link]

In this paper, we applied Basian optmization strategy to optimize the ratio between LiFSI/DME/TTE to achieve best performance of anode-free Li metal batteries.

Student Achievement

2025/7 Congratulations to Matthew Beltran on receiving the prestigious GEM Ph.D. Engineering and Science Fellowship!

News Release

2025/5/30 UT Dallas News Center released an article featuring our research in developing solid-state electrolytes.

Grant/Award

2025/5/20 Dr. Laisuo Su is selected as one of this year’s recipients of the ORAU Ralph E. Powe Junior Faculty Enhancement Award. The award supports early-career faculty in science and engineering, and my proposal focused on developing high-energy density batteries through advanced electrolyte design.

Paper Publication

2025/3/14 Our paper "1 + 1 > 2 Effect Induced by Space Charge in Solid Electrolytes" is featured on the front cover of the 2025 March issue of the ACS Energy Letters.

Paper Publication

2025/2/25 Our paper "Correlating Self-Discharge and Cycling Performance of Batteries to Fasten Electrolytes Development" has been selected to be included in the BatteryTalents series at Batteries & Supercaps.

Aug. 14, 2024 Both undergraduate students (Jordan Gatts and Aaron Merritt) won the Jonsson School of Engineering and Computer Science Award for their summer research in Dr. Su's lab. Congratulations to Jordan and Aaron! [Link]

Aug. 7, 2024 Matt Beltran and Jiaqi Ke join the Group as Ph.D. students. Welcome!

May 14, 2024 Prof. Jianbo Zhang (my Master's thesis advisor) is visiting us. Welcome Prof. Zhang!

May 6, 2024 ARPA-E video is live. Three of my graduate students (Jiayi, Matt, Yuan) are captured in the video. (Link)

Apr. 9, 2024 UTD is sponsoring the upcoming ARPA-E Innovation Summit at the Gaylord Hotel in Dallas May 22-24, 2024. Prof. Su will present at the UTD exhibitor booth to make connections with researchers in the field of renewable energy.

Jan. 26, 2024 Prof. Su is invited to be an Official Nominator for the VinFuture Prize (Link)

Jan. 17, 2024 Prof. Su is invited to chair the 245th ECS meeting for section A01 - Sodium Battery section. (May 26-May 30, 2024, San Francisco, CA)

Jan. 2, 2024 Yuan Tan joins Laisuo Group as the second Ph.D. student.

Nov. 14, 2023 Prof. Su is appointed as an Affiliate Faculty Member in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at UT Dallas.

Oct. 24, 2023 Prof. Su is invited to join the MRS Early Careers Subcommittee. The service term will be from Oct. 23, 2023 - Dec. 31, 2026.

Sep. 21, 2023 Prof. Su is invited to present at the MRS 2023 Fall Meeting (Boston, US). The presentation is in the Symposium: DS01: Accelerating Materials Research with AI-Assisted Experimentation.

Sep. 18, 2023 Malikabonu Sobirova, Azimjon Jamolov, and Muzaffarbek Mamadiyev join Laisuo Group as visiting students. They came from Uzbekistan and will conduct research in our group for one month. Welcome!

Sep. 13, 2023 Prof. Su is invited to serve as Session Chair of the MRS 2023 Fall Meeting (Boston, US) for the EN10.09: Electrocatalysis II—From Single Atoms to Nanocatalysts (November 30, 2023 from 1:30 PM to 4:30 PM ).

Aug. 30, 2023 Energy Storage Systems Campus proposal from UTD is supported by DOD with a 30M budget to build a battery center in the Dallas area. Prof. Su's group will be one of the main contributors to building the Energy Storage Systems Campus in the next 3 years. [Link] [BEACONs center]

Aug. 14, 2023 Jiayi Zhang joins Laisuo Group as the first Ph.D. student.

Aug. 9, 2023 Prof. Su is invited to present at the MRS 2023 Fall Meeting (Boston, US). The presentation is in the Symposium: EN10: From Single Atom to Device—Interfaces Under Electrochemical Conditions. It is on Thursday, 11/30/2023.

Aug. 1, 2023 Prof. Su officially joins the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at UT Dallas (UTD). Prof. Su's profile on UTD website

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