Erick Espinosa-Villatoro

Erick Espinosa Villatoro is a postdoctoral fellow at the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory. His current work focuses on the use of advanced techniques based on synchrotron radiation. His research includes micro X-ray fluorescence (μXRF) and micro X-ray absorption spectroscopy (μXAS) on beamline 7-2, as well as X-ray transmission (TXM) and micro computed tomography (μCT) on beamline 6-2, under the guidance of Dr. Johanna Nelson Weker. Erick earned his B.E. in Energy Engineering from the Universidad Politécnica de Chiapas in 2014. He continued his academic journey with a master’s degree in Materials Science from the Institute of Physics at Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla (BUAP) in 2016. In 2021, he successfully completed his Ph.D. in Materials Science at the same institute, focusing on silicon anode preconditioning for lithium-ion batteries. During his Ph.D., he conducted research at SSRL, SLAC, supervised by Dr. Johanna Nelson Weker, studying preconditioned silicon anodes through X-Ray Diffraction. He also explored soft X-ray transmission and ptychography at Berkeley's Advanced Light Source (ALS). Following his Ph.D., Erick conducted a brief postdoctoral training at the Instituto de Investigaciones en Materiales of UNAM, where he explored sodium-based materials for CO2 capture and CO oxidation. In 2022, he joined Dr. Johanna Nelson Weker's group as a postdoc, where he is currently working on two innovative projects with XCEL and the Battery 500 Consortium. His current research is dedicated to advanced characterization of high-energy, cost-effective Li-metal batteries, poised to power the next generation of electric vehicles. His work covers various battery chemistries, including Li||NMC and Li||S, and involves X-ray analysis of Li-ion cells during extreme fast charging (XFC) to assess the impact of proposed solutions for enhancing rapid charging performance.