About

Kelsey Hatzell is a professor at Princeton University, leading the Materials for Energy & Climate Lab. Her research focuses on developing next-generation materials for energy, separations, and fuel production, with the goal of enabling widespread deployment of energy technologies. Her work involves understanding and engineering materials across multiple length scales to improve durability and circularity, particularly in the context of energy storage and conversion. Her lab employs advanced material characterization tools, including electron, x-ray, and neutron technologies, to investigate material systems during in situ and operando conditions. A central theme of her research is electrochemistry, which is vital for modern energy solutions such as batteries, energy conversion, and sustainable fuel production. Her contributions highlight the importance of electrochemistry in building a cleaner, more sustainable energy future. She has been recognized as a 2026 Frontiers of Science Fellow by the NAS.

Research topics

• Chemistry
• Nanotechnology
• Materials science
• Geography
• Environmental engineering
• Engineering
• Process engineering
• Meteorology
• Physical chemistry
• Environmental science

Selected publications

• Large-scale solar-thermal desalination

  Joule · 2021 · 178 citations

  • Process engineering
  • Environmental science
  • Engineering
  DOI

• Challenges in Lithium Metal Anodes for Solid-State Batteries

  ACS Energy Letters · 2020 · 517 citations

  1st authorCorresponding
  • Materials science
  • Nanotechnology
  • Chemistry

  In this Perspective, we highlight recent progress and challenges related to the integration of lithium metal anodes in solid-state batteries. While prior reports have suggested that solid electrolytes may be impermeable to lithium metal, this hypothesis has been disproven under a variety of electrolyte compositions and cycling conditions. Herein, we describe the mechanistic origins and importance of lithium filament growth and interphase formation in inorganic and organic solid electrolytes. Multimodal techniques that combine real and reciprocal space imaging and modeling will be necessary to fully understand nonequilibrium dynamics at these buried interfaces. Currently, most studies on lithium electrode kinetics at solid electrolyte interfaces are completed in symmetric Li–Li configurations. To fully understand the challenges and opportunities afforded by Li-metal anodes, full-cell experiments are necessary. Finally, the impacts of operating conditions on solid-state batteries are largely unknown with respect to pressure, geometry, and break-in protocols. Given the rapid growth of this community and the diverse portfolio of solid electrolytes, we highlight the need for detailed reporting of experimental conditions and standardization of protocols across the community.

  DOI

• Nanoscale Mapping of Extrinsic Interfaces in Hybrid Solid Electrolytes

  Joule · 2020 · 144 citations

  Senior authorCorresponding
  • Materials science
  • Nanotechnology
  • Chemistry
  DOI

Recent grants

• EPRI/WERF: Collaborative Research: Electrical percolation in flowable electrodes for energy-efficient water re-use applications

  NSF · $255k · 2017–2021

• Collaborative Research: Unraveling the role of chemo-mechanics in all solid state batteries

  NSF · $314k · 2021–2026

• CAREER: Understanding Interfaces in Solid State Energy Storage Systems and Cross-Disciplinary Education

  NSF · $505k · 2021–2025

• Collaborative Research: GOALI: Evaluating thermo-electro-adsorption mechanisms for waste-heat driven ion-separation processes

  NSF · $223k · 2018–2021

• CAREER: Understanding Interfaces in Solid State Energy Storage Systems and Cross-Disciplinary Education

  NSF · $560k · 2019–2021

Frequent coauthors

• Marm Dixit

  Oak Ridge National Laboratory

  47 shared

• Yury Gogotsi

  Drexel University

  36 shared

• Marta C. Hatzell

  Georgia Institute of Technology

  27 shared

• Wahid Zaman

  Vanderbilt University

  27 shared

• Nicholas Hortance

  Vanderbilt University

  23 shared

• E. Caglan Kumbur

  18 shared

• Yanjie Zheng

  17 shared

• Partha P. Mukherjee

  17 shared

Education

• PhD, Material Science and Engineering

  Drexel University

  2015

• MS, Mechanical Engineering

  Pennsylvania State University

  2012

• BS, Engineering

  Swarthmore College

  2009

• BA, Economics

  Swarthmore College

  2009

Awards & honors

• Arthur Nowick Award from Materials Research
• Silver Graduate Student Award in the Materials Research Soci…
• ORAU Powe Junior Faculty Award (2017)
• NSF CAREER Award (2019)
• ECS Toyota Young Investigator Award (2019)

Similar researchers at Princeton University

• Jonathan Cohenh-162
• Michael Straussh-149
• Thomas E. Shenkh-136
• Michael Levineh-131
• Romain Teyssierh-130