Scott A. Roberts, Ph.D.

Biography

Dr. Scott A. Roberts is a Distinguished Research and Development Chemical Engineer in the Thermal/Fluid Component Sciences Department, Engineering Sciences Center at Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque, New Mexico. He has a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Kansas and a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Minnesota, under the supervision of Prof. Satish Kumar. He has worked at the Sandia National Laboratories since 2010 on a variety of projects, please see the research page for more information.

News

• Graphite electrode image uncertainty published in Energy Storage MaterialsMarch 8, 2024

  3D image-based simulations of battery electrodes have shown immense utility in providing insight into the reality of as-manufactured cells. However, transforming 3D images into computable meshes is an inherently uncertain process.

  In our new paper (https://authors.elsevier.com/c/1idHR8Z1RY5j8F, free for a few weeks) in a special issue of Energy Storage Materials focused on machine learning, we employ multiple traditional computer vision and machine learning techniques to assess this uncertainty for graphite electrodes.

  We combine this uncertainty with the intrinsic heterogeneity of a coated electrode to assess overall impacts to cell performance.

• Lithium dendrite growth published in Cell Reports Physical ScienceApril 17, 2023

  In collaboration with Purdue University, Ph.D. student Julia Meyer developed a model for the impact of external pressure and surface roughness on separator deformation and lithium plating in lithium metal batteries. This work was recently published in Cell Reports Physical Science and is available as open access at DOI: 10.1016/j.xcrp.2023.101364.

• Kintsugi imaging paper published in JESJuly 18, 2022

  Imaging as-manufactured battery electrodes is important for determining their performance, yet it is often difficult to segment images from scanning electron microscopy due to the electrons’ ability to see through pores. In a paper recently published in the Journal of the Electrochemical Society (doi: 10.1149/1945-7111/ac7a68), Scott, along with collaborators at Imperial College and ThermoFisher Scientific, developed a new “Kintsugi” method of unambiguously resolving all three phases in battery electrode imaging.

• Postdoctoral openings in hypersonics TPS M&SJuly 5, 2022

  I am actively recruiting for multiple post-doctoral positions in modeling and simulation of thermal protection system (TPS) materials for hypersonic vehicles. Requires a Ph.D in a science/engineering discipline with prior modeling and simulation experience and U.S. citizenship. If you’re interested, apply at the link below and reach out to me with questions.

  Job posting on Sandia’s website

• Effect of battery electrode manufacturing heterogeneity on transport propertiesJanuary 4, 2022

  Ph.D. student Chance Norris published his first first-author paper in ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces! In this work, we study the heterogeneity of commercially manufactured graphite electrodes for lithium-ion batteries using x-ray computed tomography and computational simulation. This heterogeneity spans multiple length scales, from the particle shape/morphology to that spanning multiple images samples. We show that heterogeneity at all scales influences the eventual transport properties of the electrode. DOI: 10.1021/acsami.1c19694

• Cryo SEM identifies relationship between pressure and short circuitsJanuary 4, 2022

  In a collaborative paper recently published in iScience, we use novel cryogenic electron microscopy to show the relationship between eternally applied pressure, lithium dendrite growth, and short circuits in lithium batteries. While pressure improves Li inventory retention at high currents, higher pressures promotes sh ort circuits. Thicker or multiple separators only masks this effect. Available open source at DOI: 10.1016/j.isci.2021.103394