Electric batteries that can power cars for 1,000 miles on a single charge are on the way, perhaps as soon as 2034 – but not without the significant support of federal research dollars, says Earl Scime, associate vice president for research and development at West Virginia University.

“A massive decrease in gasoline consumption will permeate our society,” Scime says in a featured podcast on SCIENCE 2034, new blog launched by the Science Coalition that focuses on the need for strong and sustained federal funding for basic scientific research. Scime, the Oleg Jefimenko Professor of Physics, is among an inaugural group of scientists who have envisioned how scientific discoveries will change the world in the next 20 years with the support of federal funding.

The decrease in gasoline consumption “will impact the amount of air pollution, it will change how we pay for roads and it will revolutionize the economics of the transportation industry,” Scime says.

But he argues this vision cannot come to fruition without continued federal and private investment in fundamental sciences. “The support of federal grants has given researchers at WVU the opportunity to advance the development of battery materials, particularly in the development of new cathode materials,” Scime says.




“It’s absolutely essential,” says Science Coalition President Pyatt, “that policymakers and the public make the connection between the dollars allocated for research today and the world we – and our children and grandchildren – will live in 20 years from now.

“While we don’t know what the next ‘Big Thing’ will be, chances are it will be an innovation born from basic scientific research. Our hope is that these predictions not only come true, but that this happens in the United States where we can benefit from both their societal and economic value.”

The federal government is the single largest source of funding for basic research in the United States, providing 55 percent of all funding. However, federal funding for research and development has been on a downward trajectory for the past decade, falling to a historic low of just 3.8 percent of the federal budget in 2013, and is expected to continue to decline.

The Science Coalition was formed by a handful of universities with a singular goal of strengthening federal support for basic scientific and engineering research. Today, with some 60 major research universities as members, including WVU, the Coalition continues to work toward this goal by telling the stories of what federally funded university research makes possible. Research expands our knowledge, stimulates the economy, spurs innovation and drives America’s global competitiveness.

SCIENCE 2034 marks the 20th anniversary of the Science Coalition. Blog posts, podcasts, infographics and videos will be available at http://www.science2034.org and on iTunes. Follow #Science2034 and @SciCoalition on Twitter and like the Science Coalition on Facebook.

Scime lifts up the battery research at WVU as an example of the need for and impact of federal research funding.

A 1,000-mile battery requires increased energy density and power – the amount of electrical energy in batteries that can be reliably and safely discharged and recharged – while making the batteries smaller and lighter. One of the newest research groups at WVU, the Center for Electrochemical Energy Systems, has developed a composite anode – where electricity flows into the battery – for lithium-ion batteries, which showed a doubling of the energy density capable there.

CEES is also researching a novel cathode – where electricity flows out of the battery – for lithium-sulfur batteries. Experiments to test the lower-cost materials and manufacturing techniques for the cathode showed that it had greater power and energy density plus stable discharging and recharging performance.

“We are excited by the results we are getting so far and thank our research sponsors in the West Virginia Division of Science, the U.S. Department of Energy and Pacific Northwest National Lab,” said CEES Director Xingbo Liu. “With continued investments in research, we feel confident that by 2034 scientists will achieve the necessary breakthroughs.”

-WVU-

ms/09/12/14

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