David L. Wood III, PhD
Battery Materials Processing
& Cell Design
David Wood is currently an independent consultant at ChemPower Solutions, LLC in the materials electrochemistry, electrochemical engineering, and roll-to-roll (R2R) manufacturing spaces for advanced batteries, fuel cells, and electrolyzers.
Throughout Dr. Wood's career, he has specialized in unique R&D and manufacturing scale-up methods with an emphasis on product development and technology transfer, often combining approaches from different industries to achieve novel solutions. He was employed at ORNL from 2009-2023 and is a former University of Tennessee Bredesen Center faculty member (2013-2021), the former ORNL Fuel Cell Technologies Program Manager (2011-2018), and the former Roll-to-Roll Manufacturing Team and Group Leader (2015-2017).
While at ORNL, Dr. Wood led a diverse research program on hydrogen infrastructure issues, polymer electrolyte fuel cells (PEFCs), PEM water electrolyzers, lithium-ion batteries, sodium-ion batteries, solid-state batteries, chemical processing science, and roll-to-roll (R2R) manufacturing with an average annual funding level of $8-10M.
From 1997 to 2002, he was employed by General Motors Corporation and SGL Carbon Group, excelling at applied R&D related to automotive and stationary PEFC technology. Later work (2003-2009) at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) and Cabot Corporation focused on elucidation of key PEM fuel cell chemical degradation mechanisms, development of accelerated testing methods, and component development.
Dr. Wood received his B.S. in Chemical Engineering from North Carolina State University in 1994, his M.S. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Kansas in 1998, and his Ph.D. in Electrochemical Engineering from the University of New Mexico in 2007. Dr. Wood has received numerous awards, including significant contributions to two LANL DOE Hydrogen Program R&D Awards for outstanding achievement in 2005 and 2009. He was also part of the Cabot Corporation Direct Methanol Fuel Cell team, which won the Samuel W. Bodman Award for Excellence in 2008.
Dr. Wood was the 2010 winner of ORNL Partnerships Award and 2011 winner of the ORNL Early Career Award for Engineering Accomplishment. He also led teams that won a 2013 R&D 100 award, a 2014 Federal Laboratory Consortium (FLC) award, a 2021 FLC award, and a 2022 R&D 100 Award.
He has received 20 U.S. and German patents with 3 additional U.S. patent applications under review (6 licensed), authored 109 refereed journal articles, and authored 2 book chapters. His Google Scholar total citation record is 19,000 with an h-index of 60 and an i100-index of 38.