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Welcome Michelle Mercado to the Kaner Group

We are excited to welcome Michelle Mercado, a rising fourth-year Chemical Engineering major at UC Irvine, to the Kaner group! She joins us for her second summer through the UC LEADS program, participating in an eight-week research experience with Sophia Uemura and Dr. Mackenzie Anderson. Outside the lab, Michelle enjoys learning piano, crocheting, caring for…

Maher El-Kady’s “Energy to Spare” film named finalist for the Jackson Wild Media Awards in the Science & Nature – Short Form category

Dr. Maher El-Kady (Ph.D. ’13) is featured in the Chemistry Shorts film Energy to Spare: Building Better Batteries, showcasing his research on zinc-ion batteries as a safer, more sustainable alternative to lithium-ion technology. Several Kaner group graduate students (Gray Carson, Isabelle Davis, Puyuan Du, Bradley Kroes, Haemin (Joanne) Oh, and Zhiyin (Tara) Yang) also appear…

Congratulations to our 2025 Kaner group graduates

Several Kaner group members celebrated their graduations this year with notable honors, including Spencer Hamilton (Ph.D.) receiving the Herbert Newby McCoy Commencement Award; Haemin (Joanne) Oh (MACS) with the Excellence in Research Award; Min Kyu Lee (MACS) with the Outstanding Capstone Research Award; Celeste Elkort (B.S. Chemistry) with the James Blaine Ramsey Commencement Prize; and…

Yuto Katsuyama Publishes in Small on Rapid Si/Graphene Composite Fabrication

Yuto Katsuyama’s work, “A Rapid, Scalable Laser-Scribing Process to Prepare Si/Graphene Composites for Lithium-Ion Batteries,” has been published in Small. This study introduces a one-step laser-scribing method—completed in about three minutes and using just ≈5 W under air—to prepare Si/laser-scribed graphene (LSG) composites. Both Si nanoparticles and Si microparticles were employed, demonstrating the method’s versatility.

Dr. Maher won the prestigious Energy Storage Materials (EnSM) Young Scientist Award

Dr. Maher El-Kady is one of three young scientists in the field of energy storage materials chosen for the prestigious Energy Storage Materials (EnSM) Young Scientist Award in recognition of his seminal contribution to the development of safer lithium-ion batteries, and for pioneering mass manufacturing methods of graphene batteries, driving transformative innovations in energy storage materials and…

Congratulations to Ric for $1M Climate Action Seed Grant

Professors Richard Kaner and Yuzhang Li from UCLA’s Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering have been awarded a $1M Climate Action Seed grant for their research project, which will create a breakthrough battery technology based on Zn chemistry. This technology aims to assist California in establishing a carbon-free electric grid, utilizing this new, safe, and long-lasting battery technology…