THE GOAL OF THIS CAREER PROPOSAL IS TO DESIGN A HIGH-PERFORMANCE AND STABLE ANODE BASED ON THE SURFACE-CONTROLLED CHARGE STORAGE MECHANISM TO ENABLE BATTERY OPERATION IN EXTREME COLD ENVIRONMENTS. THE ENERGY AND POWER PERFORMANCE OF LI-ION BATTERIES IS SIGNIFICANTLY REDUCED AT LOW-TEMPERATURE CONDITIONS WHICH IS MAINLY DUE TO THE SLOW DIFFUSION OF LI-IONS IN GRAPHITE ANODE. IN ADDITION METALLIC LI-PLATING ON THE GRAPHITE ANODE SURFACE AT LOW-TEMPERATURES CAN CAUSE SIGNIFICANT SERIOUS SAFETY CONCERNS. THEREFORE THERE HAVE BEEN VARIOUS ATTEMPTS TO IMPROVE THE LOW-TEMPERATURE PERFORMANCE BY MODIFYING THE STRUCTURE OF THE GRAPHITE ANODES. HOWEVER THE GRAPHITE ANODES HAVE A FUNDAMENTAL LIMITATION IN IMPROVING PERFORMANCE SINCE THE INTERCALATION KINETICS BASED ON THE DIFFUSIONCONTROLLED CHARGE STORAGE MECHANISM UNDERGOES A DRAMATIC DELAY AT LOW TEMPERATURE. WE PROPOSE TO ADDRESS THIS CHALLENGE BY EMPLOYING THE SURFACE-CONTROLLED CAPACITIVE CHARGE STORAGE MECHANISMS COMMONLY USED IS SUPERCAPACITORS. THE SURFACE-CONTROLLED CHARGED STORAGE PROCESS HAS ADVANTAGES OVER THE DIFFUSION-CONTROLLED PROCESS IN TERMS OF RATE-CAPABILITY AND LONG-TERM CYCLING STABILITY. WHEN A BULK LAYERED GRAPHITE IS EXFOLIATED INTO 2D GRAPHENE THE DIFFUSION-CONTROLLED INTERCALATION MECHANISM BECOMES INACTIVE WHILE THE SURFACE-CONTROLLED CAPACITIVE CHARGE STORAGE MECHANISM APPEARS. THEREFORE WE HYPOTHESIZE THAT THE EFFECTIVE UTILIZATION OF THE SURFACE-CONTROLLED CHARGE STORAGE MECHANISM THROUGH THE TRANSITION FROM LAYERED GRAPHITE TO GRAPHENE CAN DRAMATICALLY IMPROVE THE CHARGE STORAGE KINETICS AND OVERCOME THE METALLIC LI-PLATING ISSUE AT LOWTEMPERATURE CONDITIONS. OUR UNIQUE APPROACH IS TO USE THE STACKING ENGINEERING PROCESS THAT CAN PRECISELY CONTROL THE 3D STRUCTURE OF THE ASSEMBLED GRAPHENE ELECTRODES SUCH AS ASSEMBLY SHAPE AND SIZE PORE STRUCTURE SURFACE AREA STACKING DEGREE AND PACKING DENSITY. BASED ON THIS APPROACH THE 3D STRUCTURE OF THE GRAPHENE ASSEMBLY WILL BE TUNED TO MAXIMIZE THE LOW-TEMPERATURE CHARGE STORAGE PERFORMANCE THROUGH THE EFFECTIVE UTILIZATION OF THE SURFACE-CONTROLLED CHARGE STORAGE MECHANISM. TO ACHIEVE OUR GOALS WE PROPOSE THE FOLLOWING FOUR SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES: 1) ASSEMBLING STRUCTURED-CONTROLLED GRAPHENE ELECTRODES THROUGH STACKING ENGINEERING 2) INVESTIGATING CHARGE STORAGE MECHANISM AND PERFORMANCE OF GRAPHENE ANODES 3) ASSESSING THE CYCLING STABILITY AND ASSOCIATED STRUCTURAL CHANGE OF GRAPHENE ANODES AT LOW-TEMPERATURE OPERATION AND 4) ESTABLISHING THE STRUCTURE-CHARGE STORAGE MECHANISM-(LOW-TEMPERATURE) ELECTROCHEMICAL PERFORMANCE RELATIONSHIPS OF GRAPHENE ANODES. BASED ON THIS RELATIONSHIP WE IDENTIFY THE IDEAL STRUCTURE OF THE GRAPHENE ANODE THAT HAS SUPERIOR CHARGE STORAGE PERFORMANCE IN EXTREME COLD ENVIRONMENTS. WE PLAN TO TRANSITION FROM CURRENT TRL 2 GIVEN ADVANCED GRAPHENE ANODE CONCEPT TO TRL 3 THROUGH HIGH-PERFORMANCE ANODE DEVELOPMENT WITH EXTENSIVE PERFORMANCE ASSESSMENT. IF SUCCESSFUL MUCH FASTER AND SAFER SURFACE-CONTROLLED CHARGE STORAGE MECHANISM ON THE GRAPHENE ANODE CAN PROVIDE HIGH RATE-CAPABILITY AND SIGNIFICANTLY REDUCE SAFETY CONCERNS AT THE SYSTEM LEVEL. SUCH ADVANCED ENERGY STORAGE TECHNOLOGY WILL BE ONE OF THE KEY ENABLING TECHNOLOGIES SUPPORTING THE ENTIRE SPECTRUM OF NASA S HUMAN SPACE EXPLORATION MISSIONS FROM LOW EARTH ORBITAL TO MARS SURFACE. THROUGH THIS PROJECT WE WILL ADD TO THE KNOWLEDGE BASE OF THE ASSEMBLY OF ELECTRODES THE ENERGY STORAGE MECHANISMS AND THE ASSESSMENT OF PERFORMANCE LIMIT OF BATTERIES WHICH CAN PROVIDE GENERAL INSIGHTS FOR DESIGNING MANY OTHER ENERGY STORAGE DEVICES INCLUDING SUPERCAPACITORS FOR NASA S USE.