Joshua Gallaway
@joshuagallaway.bsky.social
Electrochemist and battery scientist. Associate Prof of Chemical Engineering at Northeastern.
Good thread for understanding grid modernization (batteries make an appearance on down the thread!)
Time for 2025 updates to my annual “opinions about solar” thread. If you like these, you might like the second edition of my book, Solar Power Finance Without The Jargon. A 30% discount code WSQ0437 is valid on publisher website until end of November 2025.
www.worldscientific.com/worldscibook...
www.worldscientific.com/worldscibook...
Solar Power Finance Without the Jargon
www.worldscientific.com
October 21, 2025 at 12:40 PM
Good thread for understanding grid modernization (batteries make an appearance on down the thread!)
Reposted by Joshua Gallaway
🔋The biggest bottleneck for Western battery manufacturing isn’t capital or policy. It’s talent.
There just aren’t enough people with the experience to run gigafactory-scale production.
That shortage is a key reason why companies like Northvolt have failed.
#battchat #greensky 🔌💡🧪
There just aren’t enough people with the experience to run gigafactory-scale production.
That shortage is a key reason why companies like Northvolt have failed.
#battchat #greensky 🔌💡🧪
October 16, 2025 at 4:10 PM
I'm not inherently opposed to AI images, but I spent some time trying to get it to make me an illustration of an "industrial electrochemical process" and it came up with this.
October 6, 2025 at 6:34 PM
I'm not inherently opposed to AI images, but I spent some time trying to get it to make me an illustration of an "industrial electrochemical process" and it came up with this.
I agree with this. I think (college) education is a solved problem. Access to education is what's revolutionary.
This is a bit sideways to your point, but I think the really revolutionary pedagogical change in the last hundred years is access to education.
Our students could still learn given only chalkboard lectures and printed books. My grandparents couldn't because they didn't get to go to university.
Our students could still learn given only chalkboard lectures and printed books. My grandparents couldn't because they didn't get to go to university.
October 2, 2025 at 6:29 PM
I agree with this. I think (college) education is a solved problem. Access to education is what's revolutionary.
When you write the Butler-Volmer equation, do you include "n" (number of electrons) terms in it?
September 22, 2025 at 8:14 PM
When you write the Butler-Volmer equation, do you include "n" (number of electrons) terms in it?
Reposted by Joshua Gallaway
“Batteries push investment into flexibility, smooth demand peaks, and keep the grid stable at lower cost. They will be the foundation of a power system that can deliver abundant electricity, with reliability built in, rather than as an afterthought” #battchat
www.worksinprogress.news/p/the-beauty...
www.worksinprogress.news/p/the-beauty...
The beauty of batteries
Keeping the grid stable requires overbuilding generation, driving up costs. Batteries fix that.
www.worksinprogress.news
September 22, 2025 at 12:34 AM
“Batteries push investment into flexibility, smooth demand peaks, and keep the grid stable at lower cost. They will be the foundation of a power system that can deliver abundant electricity, with reliability built in, rather than as an afterthought” #battchat
www.worksinprogress.news/p/the-beauty...
www.worksinprogress.news/p/the-beauty...
Reposted by Joshua Gallaway
Maria Sibylla Merian (1647-1717) was a scientific illustrator most famous for her 'Metamorphosis Insectorum Surinamensium'. In this book filled with beautifully illustrated plates she explored the then poorly understood concept of insect metamorphosis.
September 17, 2025 at 11:27 AM
Maria Sibylla Merian (1647-1717) was a scientific illustrator most famous for her 'Metamorphosis Insectorum Surinamensium'. In this book filled with beautifully illustrated plates she explored the then poorly understood concept of insect metamorphosis.
The real news of the week if that Michael Stipe is telling people what the lyrics are to It's the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)
Ok its ‘feed it off an aux, speak, grunt no strength, the ladder start to clatter with fear fight down height, wire in a fire representing seven games, a government for hire and a combat site’.
September 5, 2025 at 12:57 PM
The real news of the week if that Michael Stipe is telling people what the lyrics are to It's the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)
Reposted by Joshua Gallaway
As an educator, this is almost obvious to me. You don’t learn a topic or a skill without putting in the work. I’m currently going through every problem in a thermodynamics textbook to relearn the subject. Slow & sometimes tedious, but the only way to gain anything more than a superficial knowledge.
A paragraph from this MIT study, which I read with my own two eyes, and you should, too.
August 30, 2025 at 2:43 PM
As an educator, this is almost obvious to me. You don’t learn a topic or a skill without putting in the work. I’m currently going through every problem in a thermodynamics textbook to relearn the subject. Slow & sometimes tedious, but the only way to gain anything more than a superficial knowledge.
The National Weather Service bulletin for Hurricane Katrina, issued 28 August 2005, was the most upsetting document I had ever read in my life at that point, and 20 years later it still is. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nationa...
August 29, 2025 at 4:55 PM
The National Weather Service bulletin for Hurricane Katrina, issued 28 August 2005, was the most upsetting document I had ever read in my life at that point, and 20 years later it still is. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nationa...
Reposted by Joshua Gallaway
After months of intensive collaboration, I am thrilled to present our latest #paper: a review of zinc-based rechargeable #battery technologies and a techno-economic analysis of the various battery types. Many thanks to my co-authors for the excellent collaboration. #battchat
doi.org/10.1002/aenm...
doi.org/10.1002/aenm...
Competitive Rechargeable Zinc Batteries for Energy Storage
Growing energy demands and the associated increase in renewable energy production require robust, sustainable, and cost-effective energy storage, in particular for large-scale stationary applications...
doi.org
August 24, 2025 at 1:03 PM
After months of intensive collaboration, I am thrilled to present our latest #paper: a review of zinc-based rechargeable #battery technologies and a techno-economic analysis of the various battery types. Many thanks to my co-authors for the excellent collaboration. #battchat
doi.org/10.1002/aenm...
doi.org/10.1002/aenm...
Reposted by Joshua Gallaway
We redid our website last week, check it out here: www.batteryburnbook.com #battchat
Battery Burn Book
At Battery Burn Book, we empower and educate about batteries in a fun and friendly way, all while inspiring more diversity in energy storage.
www.batteryburnbook.com
August 14, 2025 at 1:39 PM
We redid our website last week, check it out here: www.batteryburnbook.com #battchat
Me and PhD student Yogesh at DOE OE Energy Storage Peer Review this week.
August 8, 2025 at 7:47 PM
Me and PhD student Yogesh at DOE OE Energy Storage Peer Review this week.
New paper from us today in Joule. Led by Eric Zimmerer, we used operando EXAFS and Raman spectroscopy to structurally characterize disordered intermediate materials during MnO2 cathode cycling. These cathodes are special because they cycle 2 electrons from Mn(IV) to Mn(II).
August 8, 2025 at 6:57 PM
New paper from us today in Joule. Led by Eric Zimmerer, we used operando EXAFS and Raman spectroscopy to structurally characterize disordered intermediate materials during MnO2 cathode cycling. These cathodes are special because they cycle 2 electrons from Mn(IV) to Mn(II).
I'm at DOE OE Peer Review. The struggle is real:
August 7, 2025 at 12:39 AM
I'm at DOE OE Peer Review. The struggle is real:
The grid battery storage line looks small on this plot, but no other line grew by a larger percentage. Batteries are coming to the grid, as we speak.
Fascinating! I foresee that battery storage will strongly increase (which combined with strong battery price decreases means ~100x more batteries in the coming 10 years) and this will support solar+wind and reduce grid investments.
www.iea.org/reports/worl...
www.iea.org/reports/worl...
August 2, 2025 at 5:52 PM
The grid battery storage line looks small on this plot, but no other line grew by a larger percentage. Batteries are coming to the grid, as we speak.
This week we bid farewell to Calli and Vincent, both high school researchers who joined us through Northeastern's Young Scholars Program (YSP). They studied alkaline CuO cathodes, working with their mentor Yogesh. Great work!
August 2, 2025 at 3:56 PM
This week we bid farewell to Calli and Vincent, both high school researchers who joined us through Northeastern's Young Scholars Program (YSP). They studied alkaline CuO cathodes, working with their mentor Yogesh. Great work!
Facebook showed me a snow speeder toy, and I have to share it, not for the snow speeder, but for the early 80s vintage batteries.
July 29, 2025 at 2:13 PM
Facebook showed me a snow speeder toy, and I have to share it, not for the snow speeder, but for the early 80s vintage batteries.
I've had a Google alert for "alkaline battery" for about 15 years. More than 50% of the hits are medical journals, and it has shown me what can go wrong with babies and batteries.
July 28, 2025 at 12:51 PM
I've had a Google alert for "alkaline battery" for about 15 years. More than 50% of the hits are medical journals, and it has shown me what can go wrong with babies and batteries.
Reposted by Joshua Gallaway
Picard leadership tip: The larger your audience and the higher your position, the greater the need to communicate with care and precision.
July 24, 2025 at 6:40 PM
Picard leadership tip: The larger your audience and the higher your position, the greater the need to communicate with care and precision.
Holy moly, I did not know Tom Lehrer was still alive
July 27, 2025 at 6:19 PM
Holy moly, I did not know Tom Lehrer was still alive
Reposted by Joshua Gallaway
28) Another amazing thing to think about is that life as we know it basically boils down to manganese breaking water and iron putting it back together.
July 26, 2025 at 11:06 PM
28) Another amazing thing to think about is that life as we know it basically boils down to manganese breaking water and iron putting it back together.
Gallaway Research Group, Summer 2025
July 25, 2025 at 6:02 PM
Gallaway Research Group, Summer 2025
In MacOS I love how "Eject disk" and "Erase disk" are now right next to each other. Awesome job everyone.
July 15, 2025 at 9:24 PM
In MacOS I love how "Eject disk" and "Erase disk" are now right next to each other. Awesome job everyone.