Larry Curtiss Explained

Larry Curtiss
Alma Mater:	University of Wisconsin-Madison (BA), Carnegie-Mellon University (PhD)
Occupation:	Chemist
Organization:	Argonne National Laboratory, Joint Center for Energy Storage Research, the Center for Electrochemical Energy Science, American Association for the Advancement of Science
Known For:	Gaussian-n series, lithium-air batteries
Awards:	University of Chicago Distinguished Performance Award

Larry A. Curtiss is an American chemist and researcher. He was born in Madison. WI. in 1947. He is a distinguished fellow and group leader of the Molecular Materials Group in the Materials Science Division at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory.^[1] In addition, Curtiss is a senior investigator in the Joint Center for Energy Storage Research (JCESR), a DOE Energy Storage Hub, and was the deputy director of the Center for Electrochemical Energy Science, a DOE Energy Frontier Research Center.

Curtiss is a specialist in developing quantum chemical methods for accurate energy calculations and applying these methods to energy- and material-related problems, including those related to catalysis, batteries, and carbon materials. His work has been cited over 67,000 times.^[2]

Curtiss is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Early life and education

Curtiss received his bachelor's degree in chemistry from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1969. He then attended Carnegie-Mellon University, where he completed his master's in physical chemistry in 1971, and his Ph.D. in physical chemistry in 1973.^[3] While a graduate student, he worked under the supervision of pioneering chemist Sir John Anthony Pople, who won the Nobel Prize in chemistry for his work on computational methods in quantum chemistry.^[4] Curtiss's thesis focused on quantum chemical studies of hydrogen bonded complexes. After graduating in 1973, he became a research fellow at Battelle Memorial Institute in Columbus, Ohio until 1976.

Curtiss joined Argonne in 1976 as a research associate in Argonne's former Chemical Technology Division, where he rose through the ranks to become senior scientist in 1988. In 1998, Curtiss was appointed to his current position as senior scientist and group leader of the Molecular Materials Group within Argonne's Materials Science Division. From 2006 until 2009, he was also an acting group leader at the Center for Nanoscale Materials, and from 2004 until 2018, Curtiss was a senior fellow of the University of Chicago/Argonne Computation Institute. In 2000, Curtiss was named an Argonne Distinguished Fellow.^[5]

Research

Developing and applying computational chemistry methods

Curtiss helped develop the Gaussian-n series of quantum chemical methods for accurate energy calculations (G1, G2, G3, and G4 theories).^{[6] [7] [8] [9]} These methods are for calculating the thermochemical properties of molecules and ions.

Modeling lithium-ion batteries and beyond-lithium-ion batteries

Curtiss is also involved in developing so-called "beyond-lithium-ion" batteries, such as lithium-sulfur and lithium–air batteries. He helped create a Li-O₂ battery that runs on lithium superoxide.^[10] Curtiss and researchers from Argonne and the University of Illinois also designed a lithium-air battery that works in a natural air environment for over 700 charge and discharge cycles, surpassing previous technology.^{[11] [12]}

Honors and awards

• Named a Distinguished Fellow of Argonne National Laboratory, 2000
• Elected a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, 1997

Select Recent Publications

• Accurate quantum chemical energies for 133000 organic molecules, B. Narayanan, P.C. Redfern, R.S. Assary, L.A. Curtiss, Chem. Sci., 10, 7449-7455 (2019). ^[13]
• Tuning the electrolyte network structure to invoke quasi-solid state sulfur conversion and suppress lithium dendrite formation in Li–S batteries, Q. Pang, A. Shyamsunder, B. Narayanan, C. Y. Kwok, L. A. Curtiss, L. F. Nazar, Nature Energy (2018) ^[14]
• Lithium-Oxygen Batteries with Long Cycle Life in a Realistic Air Atmosphere, M. Asadi, B. Sayahpour, P. Abbasi, A. T. Ngo, K. Karis, J. R. Jokisaari, C. Liu, B. Narayanan, M. Gerard1, P. Yasaei, X. Hu, A. Mukherjee, K. C. Lau, R. S. Assary, F. Khalili-Araghi, R. F. Klie, L. A. Curtiss, Amin Salehi-Khojin1, Nature, 555, 502 (2018). ^[15]
• Perspective: Size selected clusters for catalysis and electrochemistry, A. Halder, L. A. Curtiss, A. Fortunelli, S. Vajda, J. Chem. Phys. 148, 110901 (2018).^[16]
• The Role of Nanotechnology in the Development of Battery Materials for Electric Vehicles, J. Lu, Z. Chen, Z. Ma, F. Pan, L. A. Curtiss, K. Amine, Nature Nanotechnology 11, 1031–1038 (2016). ^[17]
• A Lithium-Oxygen Battery Based on Lithium Superoxide, J. Lu, Y. J. Lee, X. Luo, K. C. Lau, M. Asadi, H.-H. Wang, S. Brombosz, J. G. Wen, D. Zhai, Z. Chen, D. J. Miller, Y. S. Jeong, J.-B. Park, Z. Z. Fang, B. Kumar, A. Salehi-Khojin, Y.-K. Sun, L. A. Curtiss, K. Amine, Nature 2016, 529, 377. ^[18]
• Transition metal dichalcogenides as highly active catalysts for carbon dioxide reduction, Mohammad Asadi, Kibum Kim, Cong Liu, Aditya Venkata Addepalli, Pedram Abbasi, Poya Yasaei, Patrick Phillips, Amirhossein Behranginia, José M. Cerrato, Richard Haasch, Peter Zapol, Bijandra Kumar, Robert F. Klie, Jeremiah Abiade, Larry A. Curtiss, Amin Salehi-Khojin, Science, 353, 467-470 (2016). ^[19]

Patents

• Lithium air batteries having ether-based electrolytes, (2016).^[20]
• Lithium-oxygen batteries incorporating lithium superoxide, (2017).^[21]
• Selective Oxidation of Propane to Propylene Oxide, (2019).^[22]

Notes and References

1. Web site: Larry A. Curtiss Argonne National Laboratory. www.anl.gov. en. 2019-12-06.
2. Web site: Larry A. Curtiss - Google Scholar Citations. scholar.google.com. 2019-10-27.
3. Web site: August 2018 . Larry Curtiss . unfit . https://web.archive.org/web/20191206142741/https://www.anl.gov/system/files/2018-08/Biosketch_Curtiss_2018.pdf . December 6, 2019 . Argonne National Laboratory.
4. Web site: Chemistry Tree - Sir John Anthony Pople. academictree.org. 2019-12-06.
5. Web site: Argonne Distinguished Fellows Argonne National Laboratory. www.anl.gov. en. 2019-10-27.
6. Pople. John A.. Head-Gordon. Martin. Fox. Douglas J.. Raghavachari. Krishnan. Curtiss. Larry A.. 1989-05-15. Gaussian-1 theory: A general procedure for prediction of molecular energies. The Journal of Chemical Physics. 90. 10. 5622–5629. 10.1063/1.456415. 1989JChPh..90.5622P . 0021-9606.
7. Curtiss. Larry A.. Redfern. Paul C.. Raghavachari. Krishnan. 2007-02-28. Gaussian-4 theory. The Journal of Chemical Physics. 126. 8. 084108. 10.1063/1.2436888. 17343441. 2007JChPh.126h4108C . 0021-9606.
8. Curtiss. Larry A.. Raghavachari. Krishnan. Trucks. Gary W.. Pople. John A.. 1991-06-01. Gaussian-2 theory for molecular energies of first- and second-row compounds. The Journal of Chemical Physics. 94. 11. 7221–7230. 10.1063/1.460205. 1991JChPh..94.7221C . 0021-9606. free.
9. Curtiss. Larry A.. Raghavachari. Krishnan. Redfern. Paul C.. Rassolov. Vitaly. Pople. John A.. 1998-11-08. Gaussian-3 (G3) theory for molecules containing first and second-row atoms. The Journal of Chemical Physics. 109. 18. 7764–7776. 10.1063/1.477422. 1998JChPh.109.7764C . 0021-9606.
10. Web site: Stable "superoxide" opens the door to a new class of batteries Argonne National Laboratory. www.anl.gov. 12 January 2016 . en. 2019-10-27.
11. Web site: New design produces true lithium-air battery. Community. Nature Research Chemistry. 2018-03-25. Nature Research Chemistry Community. en. 2019-10-27.
12. Web site: Out of thin air Argonne National Laboratory. www.anl.gov. 21 March 2018 . en. 2019-10-27.
13. Narayanan. Badri. Redfern. Paul C.. Assary. Rajeev S.. Curtiss. Larry A.. 2019-08-07. Accurate quantum chemical energies for 133 000 organic molecules. Chemical Science. en. 10. 31. 7449–7455. 10.1039/C9SC02834J. 2041-6539. 6713865. 31489167.
14. Pang. Quan. Shyamsunder. Abhinandan. Narayanan. Badri. Kwok. Chun Yuen. Curtiss. Larry A.. Nazar. Linda F.. September 2018. Tuning the electrolyte network structure to invoke quasi-solid state sulfur conversion and suppress lithium dendrite formation in Li–S batteries. Nature Energy. en. 3. 9. 783–791. 10.1038/s41560-018-0214-0. 2018NatEn...3..783P . 1472132. 52825801. 2058-7546.
15. Asadi. Mohammad. Sayahpour. Baharak. Abbasi. Pedram. Ngo. Anh T.. Karis. Klas. Jokisaari. Jacob R.. Liu. Cong. Narayanan. Badri. Gerard. Marc. Yasaei. Poya. Hu. Xuan. March 2018. A lithium–oxygen battery with a long cycle life in an air-like atmosphere. Nature. en. 555. 7697. 502–506. 10.1038/nature25984. 29565358. 2018Natur.555..502A . 1508362. 4376436. 1476-4687.
16. Halder. Avik. Curtiss. Larry A.. Fortunelli. Alessandro. Vajda. Stefan. 2018-03-21. Perspective: Size selected clusters for catalysis and electrochemistry. The Journal of Chemical Physics. en. 148. 11. 110901. 10.1063/1.5020301. 29566496. 2018JChPh.148k0901H . 0021-9606. free.
17. Lu. Jun. Chen. Zonghai. Ma. Zifeng. Pan. Feng. Curtiss. Larry A.. Amine. Khalil. December 2016. The role of nanotechnology in the development of battery materials for electric vehicles. Nature Nanotechnology. en. 11. 12. 1031–1038. 10.1038/nnano.2016.207. 27920438 . 2016NatNa..11.1031L . 1748-3387.
18. Lu. Jun. Jung Lee. Yun. Luo. Xiangyi. Chun Lau. Kah. Asadi. Mohammad. Wang. Hsien-Hau. Brombosz. Scott. Wen. Jianguo. Zhai. Dengyun. Chen. Zonghai. Miller. Dean J.. January 2016. A lithium–oxygen battery based on lithium superoxide. Nature. en. 529. 7586. 377–382. 10.1038/nature16484. 26751057. 2016Natur.529..377L . 4452883. 0028-0836.
19. Asadi. Mohammad. Kim. Kibum. Liu. Cong. Addepalli. Aditya Venkata. Abbasi. Pedram. Yasaei. Poya. Phillips. Patrick. Behranginia. Amirhossein. Cerrato. José M.. Haasch. Richard. Zapol. Peter. 2016-07-29. Nanostructured transition metal dichalcogenide electrocatalysts for CO 2 reduction in ionic liquid. Science. en. 353. 6298. 467–470. 10.1126/science.aaf4767. 27471300. 2016Sci...353..467A . 0036-8075. free.
20. US. 9478837. Lithium air batteries having ether-based electrolytes. 2016-10-25. Amine. Khalil. Curtiss. Larry A.. Lu. Jun. Kah Chun Lau;Zhengcheng Zhang ;Yang-Kook Sun. Uchicago Argonne LLC.
21. US. 9553316. Lithium-oxygen batteries incorporating lithium superoxide. 2017-01-24. Lu. Jun. Amine. Khalil. Curtiss. Larry A. Kah Chun Lau;Yang-Kook Sun;Yun Jung Lee;Xiangyi Luo. Uchicago Argonne LLC.
22. 10385032. US. Selective oxidation of propane to propylene oxide. 2019-08-20. Vajda. Stefan. Halder. Avik. Curtiss. Larry A.. Uchicago Argonne LLC.