Susan A. Odom (16 November 1980 – 18 April 2021) was a Professor of

Chemistry Chemistry is the science, scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a natural science that covers the Chemical element, elements that make up matter to the chemical compound, compounds made of atoms, molecules and ions ...

at the

University of Kentucky The University of Kentucky (UK, UKY, or U of K) is a Public University, public Land-grant University, land-grant research university in Lexington, Kentucky. Founded in 1865 by John Bryan Bowman as the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Kentu ...

who developed redox active organic compounds for

energy storage Energy storage is the capture of energy produced at one time for use at a later time to reduce imbalances between energy demand and energy production. A device that stores energy is generally called an accumulator or battery. Energy comes in ...

applications.

Early life and education

Odom was inspired to explore STEM fields by her father who was a metallurgical engineer. She studied chemistry at the

and graduated in 2003, working under the supervision of Geoffrey Coates at Cornell University (a summer NSF

REU Reu or Ragau ( he, רְעוּ, Rə'ū; grc-x-biblical, Ῥαγαύ, Rhagaú), according to Genesis in the Hebrew Bible, was the son of Peleg and the father of Serug, thus being Abraham's great-great-grandfather and the ancestor of the Israelite ...

) and John Anthony at the University of Kentucky. She moved to

Georgia Institute of Technology The Georgia Institute of Technology, commonly referred to as Georgia Tech or, in the state of Georgia, as Tech or The Institute, is a public research university and institute of technology in Atlanta, Georgia. Established in 1885, it is part of ...

where she conducted graduate research under the supervision of Seth R. Marder. After graduating in 2008, she moved to the

University of Illinois The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the University ...

as a postdoctoral scholar under Jeffrey S Moore. In 2011, she joined the faculty of the University of Kentucky.

Research and career

Odom joined the faculty at the University of Kentucky in 2011 and was promoted to Associate Professor in 2017. She developed new materials for energy storage applications, including redox shuttles for overcharge protection and

electrolyte An electrolyte is a medium containing ions that is electrically conducting through the movement of those ions, but not conducting electrons. This includes most soluble salts, acids, and bases dissolved in a polar solvent, such as water. Upon dis ...

s for redox flow batteries. She aspired to develop stable, soluble redox-active organic materials.

Lithium-ion batteries A lithium-ion or Li-ion battery is a type of rechargeable battery which uses the reversible reduction of lithium ions to store energy. It is the predominant battery type used in portable consumer electronics and electric vehicles. It also se ...

in series are at risk of being overcharged. If one cell is weaker – or has lower capacity than other cells in the series – the series cannot achieve 100% state of charge without overcharging the weaker battery. One way to mitigate overcharge is to incorporate internal shunts called redox shuttles into the battery electrolyte. The redox shuttle is oxidized at the cathode/electrolyte interface to form a radical cation, then is reduced at the anode/electrolyte interface to return to its neutral form. For every redox shuttle cycle, an electron is transported from the cathode to the anode. An effective redox shuttle will limit cell potential to its oxidation potential. Odom developed one of the most effective redox shuttles to date, mitigating charging currents as high as 1 C, which is defined as one charge/discharge cycle per hour. Challenges with using lithium-ion batteries for

grid storage Grid energy storage (also called large-scale energy storage) is a collection of methods used for energy storage on a large scale within an electrical power grid. Electrical energy is stored during times when electricity is plentiful and inexpe ...

include the potential for catastrophic failure on a large scale as well as sourcing lithium and

transition metal In chemistry, a transition metal (or transition element) is a chemical element in the d-block of the periodic table (groups 3 to 12), though the elements of group 12 (and less often group 3) are sometimes excluded. They are the elements that can ...

s for cathode materials. Odom demonstrated promising results in the liquid-based electrochemical energy storage system called redox flow batteries. If capacities and cell voltages are sufficiently high, and if costs can be sufficiently low, these batteries will penetrate the market for grid-scale storage. Already installations exist throughout the world with aqueous

vanadium Vanadium is a chemical element with the symbol V and atomic number 23. It is a hard, silvery-grey, malleable transition metal. The elemental metal is rarely found in nature, but once isolated artificially, the formation of an oxide layer ( pas ...

-based electrolytes, but widespread adoption is limited due to economic viability. In 2016, Odom and Fikile Brushett demonstrated the performance of a

phenothiazine Phenothiazine, abbreviated PTZ, is an organic compound that has the formula S(C6H4)2NH and is related to the thiazine-class of heterocyclic compounds. Derivatives of phenothiazine are highly bioactive and have widespread use and rich history. T ...

derivative in a symmetric flow cell battery. This material was patented and licensed to Tokyo Chemicals Incorporated. The pair later demonstrated the viability of two-electron donating materials for the positive side of a

redox flow battery Redox (reduction–oxidation, , ) is a type of chemical reaction in which the oxidation states of substrate change. Oxidation is the loss of electrons or an increase in the oxidation state, while reduction is the gain of electrons or a d ...

. In collaboration with chemist Chad Risko, Odom studied how strain alters the oxidation and reduction potentials of materials through the prevention of electronic relaxation. In one case, a material was developed as a shelf-stable commercial oxidant. She showed that substituents that induce strain raise oxidation potentials regardless of their Hammet coefficient.

Awards and honours

* 2004

National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship The National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program (NSF-GRFP) is a prestigious grant awarded annually by the National Science Foundation to approximately 2,000 students pursuing research-based Master's and doctoral degrees in the ...

* 2009

National Science Foundation The National Science Foundation (NSF) is an independent agency of the United States government that supports fundamental research and education in all the non-medical fields of science and engineering. Its medical counterpart is the National I ...

American Competitiveness in Chemistry Postdoctoral Fellowship * 2011

American Chemical Society The American Chemical Society (ACS) is a scientific society based in the United States that supports scientific inquiry in the field of chemistry. Founded in 1876 at New York University, the ACS currently has more than 155,000 members at all d ...

Petroleum Research Fund Doctoral New Investigator Award * 2012, 2013, 2016, 2017

Teacher Who Made a Difference Award * 2014 Chemical Communications Emerging Investigator * 2015 University of Kentucky College of Arts & Sciences Diversity in Research Award * 2017 University of Kentucky College of Arts & Sciences Outstanding Research Mentor Award * 2017 University of Kentucky Society for the Promotion of Undergraduate Research Outstanding Faculty Mentor Award * 2017, 2018, 2019 Research Corporation for Scientific Advancement Scialog Fellow for Advanced Energy Storage * 2020 American Chemical Society Women Chemists Committee Rising Star Award Odom served on the organizing committee for multiple symposia in the Materials Research Society. In 2020, Odom was elected as a Member at Large in the Battery Division of the Electrochemical Society. Odom served on the editorial board of Materials Today.

Publications

* S.A. Odom, K. Lancaster, L. Beverina, K.M. Lefler, N.J. Thompson, V. Coropceanu, J.-L. Brédas, S.R. Marder, & S. Barlow. "Bis(di-4-alkoxyphenyl)amino Derivatives of Dithienylethene, Bithiophene, Dithienothiophene, and Dithienopyrrole: Palladium-catalysed Synthesis and Highly Delocalised Racial Cations". '' Chemistry—A European Journal'' (2007) 13, 9637–9646. DOI: 10.1002/chem.200700668 * S.A. Odom, S. Chayanupatkul, B.J. Blaiszik, O. Zhao, A.C. Jackson, P.V. Braun, N.R. Sottos, S.R. White, & J.S. Moore. "A Self-Healing Conductive Ink". ''Advanced Materials'' (2012) 24, 2578–2581. DOI: 10.1002/adma201200196 * S.A. Odom, T.T. Tyler, M.M. Caruso, J. Ritchey, M.V. Schulmerich, S.J. Robinson, R. Bhargava, N.R. Sottos, S.R. White, M.C. Hersam, & J.S. Moore. "Autonomic Restoration of Electrical Conductivity using Polymer-Stabilized Carbon Nanotube and Graphene Microcapsules". ''Applied Physics Letters'' (2012) 101, 043106-1–043106-5. DOI: 10.1063/1.4737935 * A.P. Kaur, C.F. Elliott, S. Ergun, & S.A. Odom. "Overcharge Performance of 3,7-Bis(trifluoromethyl)-N-ethylphenothiazine at High Concentrations in Lithium-Ion Batteries". ''Journal of the Electrochemical Society'' (2016) 163, A1–A7. DOI: 10.1149/2.0951514jes * M.D. Casselman, C.F. Elliott, S. Modekrutti, P. Zhang, S.R. Parkin, C. Risko, & S.A. Odom. "Beyond the Hammett Effect: Using Strain to Alter the Landscape of Electrochemical Potentials". ''ChemPhysChem'' (2017) 18, 2142–2146. DOI: 10.1002/cphc.201700607 * J.D. Milshtein, A.P. Kaur, M.D. Casselman, J.A. Kowalski, S. Modekrutti, P. Zhang, N.H. Attanayake, C.F. Elliott, S.R. Parkin, C. Risko, F.R. Brushett, & S.A. Odom. "High-Current-Density, Long-Duration Cycling of Soluble Organic Active Species for Non-Aqueous Redox Flow Batteries". ''Energy and Environmental Science'' (2016) 9, 3531–3543. DOI: 10.1039/C6EE02027E

Personal life

Odom lived in

Lexington, KY Lexington is a city in Kentucky, United States that is the county seat of Fayette County. By population, it is the second-largest city in Kentucky and 57th-largest city in the United States. By land area, it is the country's 28th-largest ...

. In high school and from 2006-2009, she bred and showed Maine Coon cats through the cattery Verismocat, which is known for its regional and national award winning cats such as GC, BW, NW Verismo Wotan-of-Valhalla. Dr. Odom died after falling in her home on April 18, 2021.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Odom, Susan 1980 births 2021 deaths American chemists University of Kentucky faculty United States National Science Foundation officials Georgia Tech alumni University of Illinois alumni Electrochemists People from Lexington, Kentucky Deaths from falls