Distinguished researcher Dr. Linda Nazar was awarded the inaugural Killam NRC Paul Corkum Fellowship for 2025. Nazar, a professor in the Department of Chemistry and Canada Research Chair in Solid State Energy Materials, is a pioneer in battery technology research, including lithium-sulfur and solid-state batteries.
The Killam NRC Paul Corkum Fellowship provides support to a prominent scholar, granting them time to pursue a novel project in collaboration with a National Research Council (NRC) researcher, leveraging NRC facilities. The grant bestowed upon the winners of the Fellowship will provide Nazar and her colleague, Dr. Yaser Abu-Lebdeh from the NRC, with dedicated time to accelerate progress in research on new and potentially disruptive battery technologies, aligning it with the NRC's Critical Battery Materials Initiative.
Their research aims to address challenges in lithium-ion battery technology, which traditionally uses cobalt-containing materials associated with low energy density, high costs, and environmental and socio-economic issues.
"Our proposed solution is to use nickel-containing materials in combination with other lower-cost materials instead, but nickel-containing materials pose stability challenges that must be addressed," says Nazar. They will seek to overcome these chemical and technological challenges, enabling the development of higher nickel-containing, cobalt-free materials.
With Nazar and Abu-Lebdeh's labs collaborating, they are bringing together experts in solid-state electrochemistry and batteries by mixing those with fundamental expertise with those with a focus on scale-up methods to advance the technology readiness. "The Fellowship will facilitate closer ties between our two labs to enhance our ability to deliver critical results that will contribute to advancing the feasibility and adoption of electric vehicles and other energy storage applications," says Nazar.
A Killam NRC Paul Corkum Fellow has to be an inclusive collaborator, a barrier breaker or a research leader - Nazar is all three, so it's easy to see why she was a great choice for the inaugural awarding of this Fellowship.
