Biography:Kang Xu

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Kang Xu
许康
Alma materSouthwest University
Lanzhou Institute of Chemical Physics
Arizona State University
Known forNonaqueous and aqueous battery electrolytes; solid electrolyte interphase chemistry; water-in-salt electrolytes
Awards
  • IBA Technology Award (2017)
  • ECS Battery Division Research Award (2018)
  • Electrochemical Society Fellow (2020)
  • Materials Research Society Fellow (2023)
Scientific career
FieldsElectrochemistry, battery materials, electrolytes
InstitutionsOhio State University
SES AI
United States Army Research Laboratory
Doctoral advisorC. Austen Angell

Kang Xu (Chinese: 许康) is a chemist whose work concerns liquid electrolytes and electrode–electrolyte interphases in rechargeable batteries. He is an Ohio Eminent Scholar and Howard D. Winbigler Chair in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at Ohio State University and chief technology officer of SES AI, a lithium-metal battery company.[1][2][3] From 1997 to 2023 he was a research chemist at the United States Army Research Laboratory (ARL) in Adelphi, Maryland.[4][2]

He is the author of two widely cited Chemical Reviews surveys of nonaqueous electrolytes and interphases (2004 and 2014). The Electrochemical Society's 2018 Battery Division Research Award citation described those articles as desk references in the field.[5] In 2015 he was a corresponding author, with Liumin Suo, Chunsheng Wang and co-workers, of a Science paper on concentrated aqueous “water-in-salt” electrolytes.[6][7] He is a fellow of the Electrochemical Society (2020) and of the Materials Research Society (2023).[8][9]

Early life and education

Xu received a B.Sc. in chemistry from Southwest University in 1985 and an M.Sc. in polymer science from the Lanzhou Institute of Chemical Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in 1988.[4][2] He completed a Ph.D. in chemistry at Arizona State University in 1996 under C. Austen Angell.[4][10][11]

Career

Ohio State's faculty page and a 2023 University of Notre Dame lecture listing place him at ARL from 1997 to 2023.[2][4] A 2017 U.S. Army news article identified him as a research chemist, an ARL fellow, and lead of the laboratory's aqueous electrochemistry team.[12] A 2017 ARL release distributed by EurekAlert also called him an ARL fellow.[13] Notre Dame's 2023 Thiele Lecture listing described him as emeritus of the laboratory and former team leader in its Battery Science Branch.[4]

A SES AI press release dated October 17, 2024, said the company had hired him as chief scientist in August 2023 and was promoting him to chief technology officer that day.[3] Ohio State's College of Engineering, in a May 20, 2026, notice, said his appointment as Ohio Eminent Scholar and Winbigler chair in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering would take effect on August 15, 2026.[1][2]

Research

Chemical Reviews surveys

“Nonaqueous liquid electrolytes for lithium-based rechargeable batteries” (2004) surveys the organic solvents, lithium salts and additives then used in commercial lithium-ion cells, and the breakdown of those liquids at electrode surfaces.[14] “Electrolytes and interphases in Li-ion batteries and beyond” (2014) is organized around the solid electrolyte interphase (SEI) on graphite and on later anode and cathode materials.[15] The 2018 Battery Division citation pointed to those two papers as the work for which he was then best known in the society.[5]

With Martin Winter and Brian Barnett he co-wrote “Before Li ion batteries” (2018), a history of the cell before Sony’s 1991 commercialization.[16]

Electrolyte materials and interphase composition

Xu's laboratory papers have reported sulfone solvents for high-voltage cells, phosphate-ester co-solvents intended to reduce flammability, lithium salts including lithium bis(oxalato)borate (LiBOB) and lithium difluoro(oxalato)borate (LiDFOB), and fluorinated solvents and additives.[17][18][19][20][21] Later concentrated and localized high-concentration formulations built on some of the same solvent and salt families.[22]

With Guorong Zhuang, Philip N. Ross Jr. and co-workers at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, he co-authored a 2005 study that identified lithium ethylene dicarbonate (LEDC) as a principal reduction product of ethylene carbonate and compared its infrared spectrum with films formed on electrodes.[23] He and co-authors later reported syntheses and spectra of related lithium alkyl carbonates.[24] A 2019 Nature Chemistry paper with Chunsheng Wang, Bryan Eichhorn and co-workers reported authentic LEDC and lithium ethylene monocarbonate (LEMC) and argued that LEMC, rather than LEDC, is the main organic component of the graphite SEI in the electrolytes examined.[25]

Solvation and interphase formation

From the mid-2000s Xu published experimental studies relating the solvation sheath of Li+ in carbonate electrolytes to charge-transfer kinetics and to the chemistry of the graphite interphase, including electrochemical, spectroscopic and NMR measurements.[26][27][28][29] Subsequent papers applied that solvation picture to concentrated electrolytes and to nanoscale heterogeneity in those liquids.[30][31]

Water-in-salt electrolytes

Aqueous lithium cells had been limited by the electrolysis of water. In November 2015 Suo, Wang, Xu and co-workers reported a lithium bis(trifluoromethanesulfonyl)imide (LiTFSI) solution concentrated enough that salt outnumbered water. Suo is listed first; the journal’s author notes mark Wang and Xu as corresponding authors.[6] Chemical & Engineering News described the experiment as work by a team led by Suo and Wang at the University of Maryland, College Park and by Xu at ARL, and wrote that the mixture behaved more like water-in-salt than salt-in-water and that a protective film formed at the anode.[7] Ars Technica treated the same Science paper as a way to push water-based cells closer in voltage to organic-electrolyte lithium-ion batteries without a flammable solvent.[32] A contemporaneous New Atlas report likewise framed the result as University of Maryland and ARL work.[33] The paper itself reported an electrochemical window near 3 V and a 2.3 V full cell cycled for about 1,000 cycles.[6] In an accompanying Science perspective, Leland Smith and Bruce Dunn wrote that the concentrated electrolyte opened an operating window of 3 V.[34]

A 2020 review in Current Opinion in Colloid & Interface Science credited Suo et al. with coining the term and wrote that the paper “ushered intensive research on WIS electrolytes.”[35] A review that year in Current Opinion in Electrochemistry treated the 2015 work as the demonstration that highly concentrated aqueous electrolytes could open a window near 3 V.[36]

The University of Maryland’s 2015 physical-sciences Invention of the Year went to the related aqueous-battery filing. The engineering school’s award list names Wang and Suo on the campus side and, in a footnote, Xu, Oleg Borodin, and Arthur V. Cresce of ARL as co-recipients.[37]

Later work

After joining SES AI, Xu’s published and invited work has included computational screening of organic molecules as candidate electrolyte components. An invited 2025 article in Electrochemical Society Interface, co-authored with SES colleagues, described an effort to enumerate and evaluate small organic structures for electrolyte design.[38][3]

Book

The Royal Society of Chemistry published Electrolytes, Interfaces and Interphases: Fundamentals and Applications in Batteries in April 2023.[39] M. Stanley Whittingham, Jeff Dahn, Martin Winter and Khalil Amine wrote forewords.[40]

Awards and honors

  • 2015 – University of Maryland Invention of the Year, physical sciences (shared).[37]
  • 2017 – International Battery Association Technology Award.[41]
  • 2018 – ECS Battery Division Research Award. Award lecture: “Forming Interphases.”[42][43][5]
  • 2020 – Fellow of the Electrochemical Society.[8]
  • 2023 – Fellow of the Materials Research Society. The society citation referred to work on high-concentration aqueous electrolytes and on electrolyte–material interactions.[9]

Selected publications

  • Xu, Kang (2004). "Nonaqueous liquid electrolytes for lithium-based rechargeable batteries". Chemical Reviews 104 (10): 4303–4418. doi:10.1021/cr030203g. PMID 15669157. 
  • Xu, Kang (2014). "Electrolytes and interphases in Li-ion batteries and beyond". Chemical Reviews 114 (23): 11503–11618. doi:10.1021/cr500003w. PMID 25351820. 
  • Suo, Liumin; Borodin, Oleg; Gao, Tao; Olguin, Marco; Ho, Janet; Fan, Xiulin; Luo, Chao; Wang, Chunsheng et al. (2015). ""Water-in-salt" electrolyte enables high-voltage aqueous lithium-ion chemistries". Science 350 (6263): 938–943. doi:10.1126/science.aab1595. PMID 26586759. 
  • Winter, Martin; Barnett, Brian; Xu, Kang (2018). "Before Li ion batteries". Chemical Reviews 118 (23): 11433–11456. doi:10.1021/acs.chemrev.8b00422. PMID 30507176. 
  • Xu, Kang (2023). Electrolytes, Interfaces and Interphases: Fundamentals and Applications in Batteries. Royal Society of Chemistry. doi:10.1039/9781837671311. ISBN 978-1-83916-310-4. 

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 "Game Changer Scholars initiative attracts global leader in battery innovation". College of Engineering (The Ohio State University). May 20, 2026. https://engineering.osu.edu/news/2026/05/game-changer-scholars-initiative-attracts-global-leader-battery-innovation. 
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 "Xu, Kang". Ohio State University College of Engineering. https://people.engineering.osu.edu/people/xu.6437. 
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 "SES AI Promotes Battery Veteran Dr. Kang Xu to CTO to Lead its AI Efforts; Announces First AI Commercial Agreement" (Press release). SES AI Corporation. October 17, 2024. Retrieved September 22, 2026 – via Nasdaq.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 ""Electrolytes, Interfaces and Interphases" by Kang Xu". Notre Dame Energy, University of Notre Dame. September 14, 2023. https://energy.nd.edu/about/events/2023/09/14/electrolytes-interfaces-and-interphases-by-kang-xu/. 
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 "Division/Section Awards". The Electrochemical Society. 2018. https://www.electrochem.org/234/division-awards. 
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 Suo, Liumin; Borodin, Oleg; Gao, Tao; Olguin, Marco; Ho, Janet; Fan, Xiulin; Luo, Chao; Wang, Chunsheng et al. (2015). ""Water-in-salt" electrolyte enables high-voltage aqueous lithium-ion chemistries". Science 350 (6263): 938–943. doi:10.1126/science.aab1595. PMID 26586759. 
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 "Supersalty water boosts battery safety". Chemical & Engineering News 93 (46). November 23, 2015. https://cen.acs.org/articles/93/i46/Supersalty-Water-Boosts-Battery-Safety.html. Retrieved September 22, 2026. 
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 "Fellow of The Electrochemical Society". The Electrochemical Society. https://www.electrochem.org/fellow. 
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 "2023 MRS Fellows". Materials Research Society. https://www.mrs.org/advancing-careers/award-central/spring-awards/mrs-fellows/list-of-mrs-fellows/2023. 
  10. ↑ Xu, Kang (2023). "Acknowledgements". Electrolytes, Interfaces and Interphases: Fundamentals and Applications in Batteries. Royal Society of Chemistry. https://books.rsc.org/books/monograph/chapter-pdf/1726419/bk9781839163104-fp019.pdf. Retrieved September 22, 2026. 
  11. ↑ Xu, Kang; Xu, Wu; Zhang, Sheng S. (2022). "Austen Angell's legacy in electrolyte research". Journal of Non-Crystalline Solids: X 14. doi:10.1016/j.nocx.2022.100088. 
  12. ↑ Dean, Tracie (May 31, 2017). "Army showcases latest technologies at 2017 DOD Lab Day". United States Army. https://www.army.mil/article/188634/army_showcases_latest_technologies_at_2017_dod_lab_day. 
  13. ↑ "Army researchers seek better batteries" (Press release). U.S. Army Research Laboratory. November 30, 2017. Retrieved September 22, 2026 – via EurekAlert!.
  14. ↑ Xu, Kang (2004). "Nonaqueous liquid electrolytes for lithium-based rechargeable batteries". Chemical Reviews 104 (10): 4303–4418. doi:10.1021/cr030203g. PMID 15669157. 
  15. ↑ Xu, Kang (2014). "Electrolytes and interphases in Li-ion batteries and beyond". Chemical Reviews 114 (23): 11503–11618. doi:10.1021/cr500003w. PMID 25351820. 
  16. ↑ Winter, Martin; Barnett, Brian; Xu, Kang (2018). "Before Li ion batteries". Chemical Reviews 118 (23): 11433–11456. doi:10.1021/acs.chemrev.8b00422. PMID 30507176. 
  17. ↑ Xu, Kang; Angell, C. Austen (1998). "High Anodic Stability of a New Electrolyte Solvent: Unsymmetric Noncyclic Aliphatic Sulfone". Journal of the Electrochemical Society 145 (4): L70–L72. doi:10.1149/1.1838419. 
  18. ↑ Xu, Kang; Angell, C. Austen (2002). "Sulfone-Based Electrolytes for Lithium-Ion Batteries". Journal of the Electrochemical Society 149 (7): A920–A926. doi:10.1149/1.1483866. 
  19. ↑ Xu, Kang; Ding, Michael S.; Zhang, Sheng; Allen, Jan L.; Jow, T. Richard (2002). "An Attempt to Formulate Nonflammable Lithium Ion Electrolytes with Alkyl Phosphates and Phosphazenes". Journal of the Electrochemical Society 149 (5): A622–A626. doi:10.1149/1.1467946. 
  20. ↑ Xu, Kang; Zhang, Shengshui; Jow, T. Richard; Xu, Wu; Angell, C. Austen (2002). "LiBOB as Salt for Lithium-Ion Batteries: A Possible Solution for High Temperature Operation". Electrochemical and Solid-State Letters 5 (1): A26–A29. doi:10.1149/1.1426042. 
  21. ↑ Fan, Xiulin; Chen, Long; Borodin, Oleg; Ji, Xiao; Chen, Ji; Hou, Singyuk; Deng, Tao; Zheng, Jing et al. (2018). "Non-flammable electrolyte enables Li-metal batteries with aggressive cathode chemistries". Nature Nanotechnology 13 (8): 715–722. doi:10.1038/s41565-018-0183-2. 
  22. ↑ Ren, Xiaodi; Chen, Shuru; Lee, Hongkyung; Mei, Donghai; Engelhard, Mark H.; Burton, Sarah D.; Zhao, Wengao; Zheng, Jianming et al. (2018). "Localized High-Concentration Sulfone Electrolytes for High-Efficiency Lithium-Metal Batteries". Chem 4 (8): 1877–1892. doi:10.1016/j.chempr.2018.05.002. 
  23. ↑ Zhuang, Guorong V.; Xu, Kang; Yang, Hui; Jow, T. Richard; Ross, Philip N. (2005). "Lithium Ethylene Dicarbonate Identified as the Primary Product of Chemical and Electrochemical Reduction of EC in 1.2 M LiPF6/EC:EMC Electrolyte". Journal of Physical Chemistry B 109 (37): 17567–17573. doi:10.1021/jp052474w. PMID 16853247. 
  24. ↑ Xu, Kang; Zhuang, Guorong V.; Allen, Jan L.; Lee, Unchul; Zhang, Sheng S.; Ross, Philip N.; Jow, T. Richard (2006). "Syntheses and Characterization of Lithium Alkyl Mono- and Dicarbonates as Components of Surface Films in Li-Ion Batteries". Journal of Physical Chemistry B 110 (15): 7708–7719. doi:10.1021/jp0601522. 
  25. ↑ Wang, Luning; Menakath, Anjali; Han, Fudong; Wang, Yi; Zavalij, Peter Y.; Gaskell, Karen J.; Borodin, Oleg; Iuga, Dinu et al. (2019). "Identifying the components of the solid–electrolyte interphase in Li-ion batteries". Nature Chemistry 11 (9): 789–796. doi:10.1038/s41557-019-0304-z. 
  26. ↑ Xu, Kang (2007). ""Charge-Transfer" Process at Graphite/Electrolyte Interface and the Solvation Sheath Structure of Li+ in Nonaqueous Electrolytes". Journal of the Electrochemical Society 154 (3): A162–A167. doi:10.1149/1.2409866. 
  27. ↑ Xu, Kang; Lam, Yiufai; Zhang, Sheng S.; Jow, T. Richard; Curtis, T. Brian (2007). "Solvation Sheath of Li+ in Nonaqueous Electrolytes and Its Implication of Graphite/Electrolyte Interface Chemistry". Journal of Physical Chemistry C 111 (20): 7411–7414. doi:10.1021/jp068691u. 
  28. ↑ Xu, Kang; von Cresce, Arthur (2010). "Differentiating Contributions to "Ion Transfer" Barrier from Interphasial Resistance and Li+ Desolvation at Electrolyte/Graphite Interface". Langmuir 26 (13): 11538–11543. doi:10.1021/la1009994. PMID 20446717. 
  29. ↑ Bogle, Xavier; Vazquez, Roberto; Greenbaum, Steve; von Wald Cresce, Arthur; Xu, Kang (2013). "Understanding Li+–Solvent Interaction in Nonaqueous Carbonate Electrolytes with 17O NMR". Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters 4 (10): 1664–1668. doi:10.1021/jz400661k. 
  30. ↑ Xu, Kang; von Cresce, Arthur (2012). "Li+-solvation/desolvation dictates interphasial processes on graphitic anode in Li ion cells". Journal of Materials Research 27 (18): 2327–2341. doi:10.1557/jmr.2012.104. 
  31. ↑ Borodin, Oleg; Suo, Liumin; Gobet, Mallory; Greenbaum, Steve; Xu, Kang (2017). "Liquid Structure with Nano-Heterogeneity Promotes Cationic Transport in Concentrated Electrolytes". ACS Nano 11 (10): 10462–10471. doi:10.1021/acsnano.7b05664. 
  32. ↑ Saxena, Shalini (November 23, 2015). ""Water-in-salt" electrolytes can make lithium-ion batteries safer". Ars Technica. https://arstechnica.com/science/2015/11/water-in-salt-electrolytes-can-make-lithium-ion-batteries-safer/. 
  33. ↑ Borghino, Dario (December 7, 2015). ""Water-in-salt" battery bodes well for greener, safer grid storage". New Atlas. https://newatlas.com/water-in-salt-battery/40514/. 
  34. ↑ Smith, Leland; Dunn, Bruce (2015). "Opening the window for aqueous electrolytes". Science 350 (6263): 918. doi:10.1126/science.aad5575. PMID 26586752. 
  35. ↑ Chen, Ming; Feng, Guang; Qiao, Rui (2020). "Water-in-salt electrolytes: An interfacial perspective". Current Opinion in Colloid & Interface Science 47: 99–110. doi:10.1016/j.cocis.2019.12.001. 
  36. ↑ Martins, Vitor L.; Torresi, Roberto M. (2020). "Water-in-salt electrolytes for high voltage aqueous electrochemical energy storage devices". Current Opinion in Electrochemistry 21: 62–68. doi:10.1016/j.coelec.2020.01.002. 
  37. ↑ 37.0 37.1 "Invention of the Year Award". A. James Clark School of Engineering, University of Maryland. https://eng.umd.edu/about-us/recognition/clark-school-university-honors/invention-year-award. 
  38. ↑ Hannah, Daniel; Zhang, Yumin; Li, Xinyu; Dong, Dengpan; Han, Joah; Park, Gyuleen; Gan, Hong; Liu, Bin et al. (2025). "Searching for Ideal Electrolytes in the Molecular Universe". Electrochemical Society Interface 34 (2): 35. doi:10.1149/2.F07252IF. 
  39. ↑ Xu, Kang (2023). Electrolytes, Interfaces and Interphases: Fundamentals and Applications in Batteries. Royal Society of Chemistry. ISBN 978-1-83916-310-4. https://books.rsc.org/books/monograph/2103/Electrolytes-Interfaces-and-Interphases. Retrieved September 22, 2026. 
  40. ↑ Whittingham, M. Stanley (2023). "Foreword". Electrolytes, Interfaces and Interphases: Fundamentals and Applications in Batteries. Royal Society of Chemistry. https://books.rsc.org/books/monograph/chapter-pdf/1726243/bk9781839163104-fp011.pdf. Retrieved September 22, 2026. 
  41. ↑ "Awards". International Battery Association. https://www.international-battery-association.org/awards.html. 
  42. ↑ "Battery Division Research Award". The Electrochemical Society. https://www.electrochem.org/battery-division-research-award. 
  43. ↑ Xu, Kang (2018). "(Battery Division Research Award) Forming Interphases". ECS Meeting Abstracts MA2018-02 (1): 52. doi:10.1149/MA2018-02/1/52. 




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