In this episode we’re joined by Jonathan Sharf of Sharf Energy (previously Tesla & UC San Diego) to explore bottlenecks in the battery sector and the energy industry as a whole. We discuss considerations and trends around various battery chemistries, cybersecurity risks, how nanonengineers approach problems, and advice for early-career researchers looking to break into the industry.
Groups and projects mentioned
Michael Liebreich’s Hydrogen Ladder
[00:00:09] "Seeing like a nanoengineer"
[00:03:19] Overhyped, difficult, or scammy areas in energy
[00:05:47] Geologic Hydrogen and Perovskite Solar
[00:08:11] Bottlenecks for batteries, battery supply chains, and sodium-ion
[00:13:04] How to build the manufacturing ecosystem for sodium-ion
[00:14:30] Federal policy priorities: cybersecurity, incentives for deployment
[00:17:26] Long duration energy storage
[00:21:40] Metaphors to describe batteries
[00:22:48] Risks - Cybersecurity
[00:24:18] Internally visualized representations for battery chemistry
[00:26:41] Picking the right chemistry for the right problem
[00:27:51] Soft skills for early-stage PHDs to work on
[00:29:43] Information Sources
[00:33:45] Bottlenecks for Iron-Air
[00:36:11] Additional Bottlenecks
[00:40:43] What's "The Canon" for your field?
[00:44:14] Lessons and advancements from adjacent fields
