Facilities and Capabilities - Battery Research Group

Battery Fabrication and Testing Facility

Opening in 2022, the new Battery Fabrication and Testing Facility, a 2,400-square-foot facility at UT's J.J. Pickle Research Campus in North Austin, features cutting-edge equipment available to UT Battery Research Group partners. Features include a dry room for all prefabrication and characterization processes; 40 Ah pouch cells for electric vehicle applications; destructive testing capability meeting UN/DOT 38.3; and long-time cycling and environmental chambers. Learn more

Additional User Facilities and Capabilities

Texas Materials Institute

engineering education and research center building — TMI is located in the Cockrell School's Engineering Education and Research Center.

The Texas Materials Institute (TMI) was established in 1998 to ensure that The University of Texas at Austin achieves excellence in graduate education and research in the broad field of materials. The development of clean energy materials is one of the major research areas of the institute and includes materials science and engineering for batteries.

Capabilities: TMI offers the use of over 100 instruments and pieces of equipment to both internal UT users and corporate and external users. Available equipment can be found at tmi.utexas.edu/facilities/instrumentation and includes such capabilities as AFM, SEM, TEM, sample preparation equipment, gloveboxes, thermal deposition and TOF-SIMS.
Engage: Corporate and external users can learn how to become users by visiting tmi.utexas.edu/facilities/instrument-reservation-information.

Center for Electrochemistry

welch hall building — CEC is located in the College of Natural Sciences' Welch Hall.

Established in 2006 to build upon a half century of excellence in electrochemistry at The University of Texas at Austin, the Center for Electrochemistry (CEC) fosters collaborative research programs in the electrochemical sciences. The CEC is comprised of a multidisciplinary group of more than 250 faculty, staff and student researchers spanning the chemistry, materials and engineering aspects of electrochemical science. CEC’s research area in electrocatalysis and electrochemical energy systems focuses on the discovery, characterization and mechanistic understanding of new electrocatalysts and materials for electrochemical devices, such as batteries.

Capabilities: Capabilities include battery cyclers, a 4-point probe, SECM, various potentiostats/galvanostats and more. For more information, visit cec.cm.utexas.edu/facility.
Engage: Corporate users can join the Industrial Affiliates Program and become users of the facilities and equipment. Learn more at cec.cm.utexas.edu/industrial-affiliates-information.

Electron Microscopy Facility

Established in 2020 as part of the Texas Materials Institute, the new Electron Microscopy Facility has advanced instruments for the analysis of materials and their preparation, and includes specialized holders for in-situ battery research.

Capabilities: JEOL neoARM Scanning Transmission Electron Microscope. Probe Corrected. 30-200 kV. EELS and EDX; Protochips Poseiden Liquid Flow Holder: Electrochemistry pack and Heating pack; Dual beam FIB/SEM system with EBL capabilities
Engage: Corporate and external users should contact K. Jarvis, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., for JEOL neoARM STEM information, and Raluca Gearba, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., for FIB/SEM information.

Center for Electromechanics

The Center for Electromechanics (CEM) is performing leading-edge basic and applied research in electrical and mechanical engineering, with a special emphasis on applied engineering leading to prototype development in electromechanical devices and systems with high-specific power, force and/or energy storage or other unique attributes.

Capabilities: Capabilities include one of the largest flexible testbeds capable of testing a full range of AC power systems; megawatt scale MVDC/HFAC power system testbed; hardware-in-the-loop simulations; power electronics assembly and testing; EMI/RFI shielded control rooms; a motors testing lab; and wide prototype capabilities.
Engage: CEM partners with corporations and other entities either through funded projects or for joint grant opportunities. Contact Shannon Strank, CEM assistant director, at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. to learn more.

Texas Advanced Computing Center

For two decades, UT's Texas Advanced Computing Center (TACC) has been advancing scientific discoveries with first-class supercomputing facilities and capabilities. TACC's environment includes a comprehensive cyberinfrastructure ecosystem of leading-edge resources in high-performance computing, including visualization, data analysis, storage, archive, cloud, data-driven computing, connectivity, tools, APIs, algorithms, consulting and software. In addition, their skilled experts work with thousands of researchers on more than 3,000 projects each year.

Capabilities: In addition to computation time, users can also take advantage of consulting with TACC experts, training classes for company employees and in-depth user guides. Learn more at tacc.utexas.edu/systems/user-services.
Engage: To become a member of TACC’s Science and Technology Affiliates for Research program, contact Melyssa Fratkin, TACC industrial programs director, at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., and learn more at tacc.utexas.edu/partnerships/industry.