Ilias Belharouak
Corporate Fellow / Head of Electrification Section
Bio
Dr. Ilias Belharouak is a Corporate Fellow and the Head of the Electrification Section at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) in Tennessee. He is also a Professor at the Bredesen Center for Interdisciplinary Research and Graduate Education of the University of Tennessee Knoxville. At ORNL, Dr. Belharouak leads multidisciplinary R&D programs that are sponsored by multiple government agencies and industries focusing on battery energy storage and advanced manufacturing. He is also an advisory board member for several US universities and government agencies.
Dr. Belharouak is a seasoned researcher with extensive experience collaborating with government agencies and various industries on battery technology projects. He is well-versed in different fields, including medical, electric vehicles, and renewable energy storage applications. His primary research interests revolve around high-power and high-energy lithium-ion and sodium-ion batteries, beyond lithium-ion battery technology, battery materials and molecular discovery, electrolytes and additives, engineering, and scale-up of battery components and cells, multi-scale range characterization of battery components and interfaces, diagnostics, postmortem, and probing of the aging phenomena in batteries.
Dr. Belharouak has been recognized with several awards, including six R&D 100 awards and four U.S. Federal Laboratory Consortium Awards. He has published over 200 peer-reviewed papers, 50 U.S. patents and patent applications, and 5 books. He is the Editor of the Journal of Power Sources, holds an h-index of 75, and has been invited to speak more than 70 times around the world.
Professional Experience
Before joining ORNL in 2017, Dr. Belharouak held two key positions in Qatar. He served as the Research Director and Founding Chief Scientist of the Electrochemical Energy Storage Center Qatar Foundation and as a Professor at Hamad Bin Khalifa University (HBKU) for two years. In these roles, he was responsible for managing an annual budget of $15M to advance the State of Qatar's progress in the field of energy storage and environment.
Before joining Qatar Foundation in 2013, he worked as a Material Scientist at Argonne National Laboratory (ANL) in Illinois from 2001-2013. During his time at Argonne, he served as the principal investigator for several battery material-related technologies, including those for high-energy density and high-power density Li-ion batteries, sodium-ion batteries, solid-state batteries, and lithium-sulfur batteries.
Awards
09/2022: R&D 100 Awards
05/2022: Outstanding Faculty Mentor Award
09/2021: Excellence in Technology Transfer Award
09/2020: R&D 100 Awards
09/2012: R&D 100 Awards
11/2009: R&D 100 Awards
05/2009: Excellence in Technology Transfer Award
07/2009: U.S. Government Recognition Letters
11/2008: R&D 100 Awards
08/2008: Excellence in Technology Transfer Award
04/2007: Pacesetter Award
04/2007: Director Award
11/2005: R&D 100 Awards
Education
1999: Ph.D. of Materials Science, Bordeaux 1 University, Bordeaux, France
1996: Masters of Materials Science, Bordeaux 1 University, Bordeaux, France
1995: Bachelor of Inorganic Chemistry, Cadi Ayyad University, Marrakech, Morocco
Faculty of Sciences Semlalia, Marrakech
Professional Affiliations
- Member of the Electrochemical Society
- Member of the American Ceramic Society
- Member of the Material Research Society
Publications
Insights into the Critical Materials Supply Chain of the Battery Market for Enhanced Energy Security
Other Publications
Greener solution powers new method for lithium-ion battery recycling
New York Times: Carmakers Race to Control Next-Generation Battery Technology
Battery Chat with Parri #3: Dr. Ilias Belharouak (Nickel Institute)
DOE’s Oak Ridge lab licenses technology to startup Sparkz to reduce cobalt in lithium-ion batteries
ORNL Uncovers Greener Method to Recycle Lithium-Ion Batteries
Electrification expert Ilias Belharouak discusses the future of batteries with nytimes
Building a Robust and Resilient U.S. Lithium Battery Supply Chain
ORNL researchers develop way to recycle lithium-ion batteries safely
New class of cobalt-free cathodes could enhance energy density of next-gen lithium-ion batteries
Energy storage startup SPARKZ licenses ORNL cobalt-free battery tech
New Type of Cobalt-free Cathode Promises to Improve Energy Density of Lithium-ion Batteries