Matthew McDowell

2025 National Award Finalist — Faculty

Matthew McDowell

Current Position:
Professor and Carter N. Paden, Jr. Distinguished Chair

Institution:
Georgia Institute of Technology

Discipline:
Materials Science & Nanotechnology

Recognized for: Transformative developments in the understanding of solid-state battery internal interfaces, enabling key innovations and addressing challenges in their design.

Areas of Research Interest and Expertise:
Energy Storage, Batteries, Materials for Energy

Previous Positions:

MS, Stanford University (Advisors: Yi Cui, Bill Nix)
PhD, Stanford University (Advisors: Yi Cui, Bill Nix)
Postdoctoral Scholar, California Institute of Technology (Advisor: Nate Lewis)
Assistant Professor, Georgia Institute of Technology
Associate Professor, Georgia Institute of Technology
Woodruff Faculty Fellow, Georgia Institute of Technology
Co-Director of the GT Advanced Battery Center, Georgia Institute of Technology
Paden Distinguished Chair, Georgia Institute of Technology

Research Summary:

As energy infrastructure improves and fossil fuels give way to more eco-friendly energy solutions, the desire for energy storage technologies with improved performance and safety have driven a strong surge of new battery designs. Work pioneered by materials scientist Matthew McDowell, PhD, is enabling new understanding through direct imaging of internal interfaces of next-generation solid-state batteries. Being able to view the inner workings of a battery has allowed for groundbreaking insight into the mechanisms that cause battery degradation, which has guided McDowell and other researchers to develop novel ways to improve battery performance and stability.

“We need novel energy storage technologies to enable the transition to renewable energy. My research provides new understanding of the dynamic behavior of energy materials, and we use this knowledge to engineer these materials for improved performance.”

Key Publications:

  1. S. G. Yoon, B. S. Vishnugopi, D. L. Nelson, A. X. B. Yong, Y. Wang, S. E. Sandoval, T. A. Thomas, K. A. Cavallaro, P. Shevchenko, E. P. Alsac, C. Wang, A. Singla, J. R. Greer, E. Ertekin, P. P. Mukherjee, M. T. McDowell. Interface Morphogenesis with a Deformable Secondary Phase in Solid-State Lithium Batteries. Science, 2025, 388, 6751, 1062-1068.
  2. S. E. Sandoval, J. A. Lewis, B. S. Vishnugopi, D. L. Nelson, M. M. Schneider, F. J. Q. Cortes, C. M. Matthews, J. Watt, M. Tian, P. Shevchenko, P. P. Mukherjee, M. T. McDowell. Structural and Electrochemical Evolution of Alloy Interfacial Layers in Anode-Free Solid-State Batteries. Joule, 2023, 7, 9, 2054-2073.
  3. J. A. Lewis, F. J. Q. Cortes, Y. Liu, J. C. Miers, A. Verma, B. S. Vishnugopi, J. Tippens, D. Prakash, T. S. Marchese, S. Y. Han, C. Lee, P. P. Shetty, H.-W. Lee, P. Shevchenko, F. De Carlo, C. Saldana, P. P. Mukherjee, M. T. McDowell. Linking Void and Interphase Evolution to Electrochemistry in Solid-State Batteries Using Operando X-Ray Tomography. Nature Materials, 2021, 20, 503-510.
  4. J. Tippens, J. C. Miers, A. Afshar, J. A. Lewis, F. J. Q. Cortes, H. Qiao, T. S. Marchese, C. V. Di Leo, C. Saldana, M. T. McDowell. Visualizing Chemomechanical Degradation of a Solid-State Battery Electrolyte. ACS Energy Letters, 2019, 4, (6), 1475-1483.

Other Honors:

2023 Electrochemical Society (ECS) Battery Division Early Career Award
2022 Glenn Award from the American Chemical Society Energy and Fuels Division
2022 Georgia Tech Outstanding Achievement in Early Career Research Award
2022 US-EU National Academy of Engineering Frontiers of Engineering Invited Speaker
2019 Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE)
2019 Sloan Research Fellowship
2018 NASA Early Career Faculty Award
2017 NSF CAREER Award
2016 AFOSR Young Investigator Award
2016 Finalist, Volkswagen/BASF Science Award Electrochemistry

In the Media:

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