Research Area:
Solid State Chemistry

Prof. Jean-Marie Tarascon received his PhD in Solid State Chemistry from the University of Bordeaux in 1981. Most of his career was spent in the US, first at Cornell University in 1980, then Bell Laboratory and Bellcore until 1994. Prof. Tarascon is currently Professor of Chemistry of Materials and Energy at the Collège de France. He is also the director of the Research Network on Electrochemical Energy Storage, a research and technology transfer network devoted to energy storage devices initiated by the French Ministry of Higher Education and Research.

Prof. Tarascon’s field of research is in the development of new techniques for the synthesis of new electronic materials (superconductors, ferroelectrics, fluoride glasses and rechargeable batteries materials) for new solid state electronic devices, and for relating crystal structure to electronic, optical, and magnetic properties. His work has primarily focused on some electronic properties of Chevrel phases as well as their ability to insert or deinsérer alkali ions. He has made outstanding contributions in the field of superconductivity and was the original proponent of the thin and flexible plastic lithium ion battery based on a strong and highly resistant hybrid polymer system that is presently commercialized. As the head of the Institute of Chemistry of Picardie and coordinator of the European Research Institute for battery research (ALISTORE-ERI), he is exploiting new Li reactivity concepts such as conversion or displacement reactions, and novel electrodes designs for the next generation of Li-ion batteries based on nano-electrodes/electrolyte components.

Elected a Foreign Member of the Royal Society in 2014, Prof. Tarascon is also a Member of the American Chemical Society, Electrochemical Society and Materials Research Society. He is the author of about 69 patents and more than 520 publications, as well as the recipient of many awards, the most recent of which are the Volta Medal, the 2004 "ISI AWARD", nomination to the French Academy of Sciences in 2005, and the UPJV gold medalist in 2008.