Developing Zinc Metal Batteries & Managing Teams as the CTO @Salient Energy

Brian Adams is the CTO at Salient Energy, a startup developing zinc metal batteries based on aqueous electrolytes for large scale energy storage applications. Previously he was a postdoctoral research associate at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory where he studied the electrodeposition and stripping of lithium metal.

In this episode we discuss the chemistry behind zinc metal batteries and how they differ from lithium ion batteries, how Salient chooses where to execute pilot projects, and the process of creating 3 year roadmaps for future pilot plants and factories. Brian's action item is to start working on projects that might not fit into the curriculum of high school or even university, as developing projects can build an abundance of important skills!