Karim Zaghib

{{Infobox scientist

| name = Karim Zaghib

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| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1963|12|25|df=y}}

| birth_place = Constantine, Algeria

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| citizenship = Algerian, Canadian

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| education = Grenoble Institute of Technology (DEA, PhD)
Pierre et Marie Curie University (HDR)

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| thesis_title = Analyse de la cinétique de cémentation du cuivre par le zinc en milieu sulfate{{cite thesis |title=Analyse de la cinétique de cémentation du cuivre par le zinc en milieu sulfate |url=https://theses.fr/1990INPG0165 |website=theses.fr|date=January 1990 |type=These de doctorat |last1=Zaghib |first1=Karim |last2=Nguyen |first2=Bernadette }}

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| doctoral_advisor = Bernadette Nguyen

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Karim Zaghib {{post-nominal|country=CAN|FRSC}} {{post-nominal|country=CAN|FCAE}} (born in 1963) is an Algerian-Canadian electrochemist and materials scientist known for his contributions to the field of energy storage and conversion. He is currently Professor of Chemical and Materials Engineering at Concordia University. As former director of research at Hydro-Québec, he helped to make it the world’s first company to use lithium iron phosphate in cathodes, and to develop natural graphite and nanotitanate anodes.{{cite web |title=Kalev Pugi Award, 2022 Recipient - Professor Karim Zaghib |url=https://www.soci.org/awards/honours/kalev-pugi-award |website=Society of Chemical Industry |access-date=22 March 2023}}

== Early life and education ==

Karim Zaghib was born in Constantine and grew up in Setif, Algeria.{{cite news |last1=Benameur |first1=Lilia |title=Rencontre avec Karim Zaghib, le maître algérien de la batterie |url=https://www.tsa-algerie.dz/rencontre-avec-karim-zaghib-le-maitre-algerien-de-la-batterie/ |access-date=22 March 2023|publisher=Tout sur l'Algérie |date=15 March 2022}} He obtained the D.E.A. degree in 1987 and the Ph.D. degree in Electrochemistry under the direction of Prof. Bernadette Nguyen in 1990, both from the Grenoble Institute of Technology, and the Habilitation degree in Physics from Pierre and Marie Curie University (Paris VI) in 2002.{{cite web|title=Keynote and Invited Speakers|url=https://www.imlb.org/2014/speakers.htm#zaghib|website=International Meeting on Lithium Batteries|access-date=22 March 2023|archive-date=22 March 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230322201235/https://www.imlb.org/2014/speakers.htm#zaghib|url-status=dead}}

Career

From 1990 to 1992, Karim Zaghib was a postdoctoral fellow at CNRS and Saft investigating chemical lithiation of graphite and carbon fibers. From 1992 to 1995, he was a guest researcher working on lithium-ion batteries for the Ministry of International Trade and Industry of Japan at the Osaka National Research Institute. Following his research in Japan, he joined in 1995 the Hydro-Québec Research Institute where he was instrumental in introducing Li-ion technology to the company. He was promoted Director of the Energy Storage and Conversion Division of the company in 2007. In 2017, he founded the Center of Excellence in Transportation Electrification and Energy Storage of Hydro-Québec.{{cite web |title=About us - A global leader in battery materials |url=https://www.hydroquebec.com/ce-transportation-electrification-energy-storage/about-us.html |website=Center of Excellence in Transportation Electrification and Energy Storage |access-date=22 March 2023}} In 2014, Karim Zaghib co-founded Esstalion Technologies, a joint-venture between Sony and Hydro-Québec which aimed to research and develop large-scale energy storage systems for power grids.{{cite news |title=Establishment of Esstalion Technologies, Inc., a joint venture between Sony and Hydro-Québec |url=https://www.sony.com/en/SonyInfo/News/Press/201406/14-0603E/ |access-date=22 March 2023 |publisher=Sony Corporation |date=3 June 2014}} From 2020 to 2021, he was a strategic advisor at Investissement Québec on the Government of Québec initiative to establish a battery industry from mining to electric vehicles and concurrently Professor of Practice at McGill University in the Department of Mining and Materials Engineering.{{cite web |title=Dr. Karim Zaghib Appointed as a Strategic Advisor at Investissement Québec

|url=https://www.investquebec.com/international/en/press-releases/press-releases/dr-karim-zaghib-appointed-as-a-strategic-advisor-at-investissement-quebec.html|website=Investissement Québec |access-date=22 March 2023}}{{cite news |last1=Nishihata |first1=Junji |title=World-leading battery expert appointed Professor of Practice in Department of Mining & Materials Engineering |url=https://reporter.mcgill.ca/world-leading-battery-expert-appointed-professor-of-practice-in-department-of-mining-materials-engineering/ |access-date=22 March 2023 |publisher=McGill Reporter|date=16 September 2020}} In 2022, he joined Concordia University as Professor of Chemical and Materials Engineering.{{cite news |last1=Bokser |first1=Howard |title=Concordia celebrates its award-winning faculty |url=https://www.concordia.ca/cunews/main/stories/2022/06/21/concordia-celebrates-it-award-winning-faculty.html |access-date=22 March 2023 |publisher=Concordia University |date=21 June 2022}}

Research

Karim Zaghib’s research concerns rechargeable batteries, electrochromic devices and electrochemistry of carbon materials. During his PhD studies, he developed aluminium-manganese-lithium alloys in molten salts as negative electrode for lithium-ion batteries and investigated the copper and zinc displacement reaction.{{cite journal |last1=Zaghib |first1=K. |last2=Poignet |first2=J.-C. |title=Optimum conditions for deposition of Al-Mn alloys on a substrate of soft steel in molten salt : Application as negative electrode for Li-ion batteries |journal=Proceedings of the Electrochemical Society |date=1998 |volume=98 |issue=15 |page=423-442}} He published a new method to enhance the electrodeposition of metals (electrolysis aided cementation) in Electrochimica Acta.{{cite journal |last1=Zaghib |first1=K. |last2=Chainet |first2=E. |last3=Nguyen |first3=B. |title=Potentialities of "electrolysis aided cementation": Cu/Zn/So2−4 system |journal=Electrochimica Acta |date=March 1990 |volume=35 |issue=3 |page=657-663|doi=10.1016/0013-4686(90)87057-9 }} In the context of the New Sunshine Project, he developed vapor grown carbon fibers as a negative electrode, and identified additives and solid polymer and gel electrolytes for Li-ion batteries with DKS, Japan.{{cite web |last1=Berkeley Energy Storage and Conversion for Transportation and Renewables |title=Dr. Karim Zaghib |url=https://bestar.lbl.gov/2012/03/28/dr-karim-zaghib/ |website=Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory |access-date=23 March 2023}}

At Hydro-Québec, Karim Zaghib started a collaboration with Prof. Michel Armand on new battery materials and electrolytes and with Prof. Kim Kinoshita from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory to understand the oxidation and irreversible capacity loss versus the particle size of natural graphite by proposing several models to consider the role of the basal plane and edge sites.{{cite journal |last1=Zaghib |first1=K. |last2=Nadeau |first2=G. |last3=Kinoshita |first3=K. |title=Effect of Graphite Particle Size on Irreversible Capacity Loss |journal=Journal of the Electrochemical Society |date=5 February 2000 |volume=147 |issue=6 |page=2110-2115|doi=10.1149/1.1393493 |bibcode=2000JElS..147.2110Z }}

He introduced nanostructured Li₄Ti₅O₁₂ (LTO) anodes for lithium-ion and solid-state batteries and new solid Li-ion batteries based on expanded metal with solid polymer or gel electrolyte in combination with 3V and 4V cathode materials and LTO. His collaboration with Prof. Armand led to the invention of the hybrid supercapacitor using LTO negative and carbon positive electrodes,{{cite patent |country=CA |number=2428090C |inventor=Zaghib, K. |invent1=Gauthier, M. |invent2=Brochu, F. |invent3=Guerfi, A. |invent4=Masse, M. |title=Li4Ti5O12, Li(4-.alpha.)z.alpha.Ti5O12, or Li4z.beta.Ti(5-.beta.)O12 particles, methods for obtaining same and use as electrochemical generators |pubdate=2002/06/13 |gdate= |fdate=2001/12/03 |pridate=2000/12/05 |assign1=Hydro-Québec|url=https://patentimages.storage.googleapis.com/f7/97/bb/3664a341c921ea/CA2428090C.pdf}} the carbon-coated LiFePO₄ cathode which enabled the commercial lithium iron phosphate battery,{{cite patent |country=US |number=20150132660A1

|inventor=Ravet, N.|invent1=Besner, S.|invent2=Simoneau, M. |invent3=Armand, M. |invent4=Zaghib, K. |title=Electrode materials with high surface conductivity |pubdate=2015/05/14 |gdate= |fdate=2001/12/03 |pridate=1999/04/30 |assign1=Hydro-Québec|url=https://patentimages.storage.googleapis.com/57/87/ab/cc4380a2f35be2/US20150132660A1.pdf}} and the LiFSI class of ionic liquids and electrolytes.{{cite journal |last1=Zaghib |first1=K. |last2=Charest |first2=P. |last3=Guerfi |first3=K. |last4=Shim |first4=J. |last5=Perrier |first5=M. |last6=Striebel |first6=K. |title=Safe Li-ion polymer batteries for HEV applications |journal=Journal of Power Sources |date=6 May 2004 |volume=134 |issue=1 |page=124-129 |doi=10.1016/j.jpowsour.2004.02.020|bibcode=2004JPS...134..124Z }}

During the last 28 years, Karim Zaghib has actively collaborated with Chemistry Nobel Prize Laureate 2019 Prof. John B. Goodenough from the University of Texas at Austin, Prof. Michel Armand, and Prof. Christian Julien and Prof. Alain Mauger from Sorbonne University to develop olivine and silicate cathode materials for Li-ion batteries.{{cite journal |last1=Zaghib |first1=K. |last2=Trudeau |first2=M.L. |last3=Reddy |first3=M.V. |last4=Mauger |first4=A. |last5=Julien |first5=C. |last6=Armand |first6=M. |title=(Invited) John B. Goodenough's Centenarian : Success Story of LiFePO4 (LFP) As Cathode Material for Rechargeable Lithium Batteries |journal=ECS Meeting Abstracts |date=31 May 2022 |volume=2022 |issue=1 |page=356 |doi=10.1149/MA2022-012356mtgabs|s2cid=250572764 }} Hydro-Québec and the University of Texas at Austin partnered to commercialize the LiFePO₄ cathode.{{cite news |title=The University of Texas at Austin Announces Agreement for Rechargeable Battery Patents with Hydro-Quebec |url=http://cec.cm.utexas.edu/content/university-texas-austin-announces-agreement-rechargeable-battery-patents-hydro-quebec |publisher=The University of Texas at Austin |date=7 July 2011}} Karim Zaghib also collaborated with Dr Michael Thackeray from Argonne National Laboratory on the commercialization of spinel lithium nanotitanate (LTO) anodes.{{cite news |title=Hydro-Québec and Technifin Form Partnership to License Lithium Titanate Spinel Oxide (LTO) |url=https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/hydro-quebec-and-technifin-form-partnership-to-license-lithium-titanate-spinel-oxide-lto-144804845.html |access-date=23 March 2023 |agency=Hydro-Québec}}

Karim Zaghib is a co-inventor of 600 patents associated to 62 licenses. He has participated in more than 420 referred articles and 22 monographs and co-wrote the reference textbook Lithium Batteries: Science and Technology published by Springer, also translated into Chinese.{{Cite web |last=Hydro-Québec |title=Hydro-Québec researcher Karim Zaghib wins the Lionel-Boulet Award |url=https://www.newswire.ca/news-releases/hydro-quebec-researcher-karim-zaghib-wins-the-lionel-boulet-award-871188369.html |access-date=2023-03-03 |website=www.newswire.ca |language=en}}{{cite book |title=Lithium Batteries: Science and Technology |url=https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-319-19108-9 |publisher=Springer|year=2016 |doi=10.1007/978-3-319-19108-9 |last1=Julien |first1=Christian |last2=Mauger |first2=Alain |last3=Vijh |first3=Ashok |last4=Zaghib |first4=Karim |isbn=978-3-319-19107-2 }} His publications has been highly cited, with an h-index of 83 as of 2023, according to Google Scholar.{{Cite web |title=Karim Zaghib |url=https://scholar.google.ca/citations?user=C4m8TSUAAAAJ&hl=en |access-date=2023-03-03 |website=scholar.google.ca}}

Awards and honors

Karim Zaghib has received numerous national and international awards, including:

International Electric Research Exchange (IERE) Research Award 2008
Energy Technology Division Research Award 2010 of The Electrochemical Society{{cite web |title=Energy Technology Division Research Award

|url=https://www.electrochem.org/etd-research-award|website=The Electrochemical Society |access-date=22 March 2023}}

International Battery Association Research Award 2010{{cite web |title=Awards |url=https://www.international-battery-association.org/awards.html |website=International Battery Association}}
Elected Fellow of The Electrochemical Society in 2011{{cite web |title=Fellow of The Electrochemical Society |url=https://www.electrochem.org/fellow |website=The Electrochemical Society |access-date=22 March 2023}}
Battery Technology Division Award 2013 of The Electrochemical Society{{cite news |title=Karim Zaghib, from Hydro-Québec's research institute, receives the 2013 Battery Division Technology Award from the Electrochemical Society for his contribution to the development of high-performance, safe battery materials |url=http://news.hydroquebec.com/en/press-releases/456/karim-zaghib-from-hydro-quebecs-research-institute-receives-the-2013-battery-division-technology-award-from-the-electrochemical-society-for-his-contribution-to-the-development-of-high-performance-safe-battery-materials/ |access-date=22 March 2023 |publisher=Hydro-Québec |date=31 October 2013}}
Listed among the World’s Most Influential Scientific Minds/Highly Cited Researchers 2015, 2016, 2017, Thomson Reuters and Clarivate Analytics{{cite news |title=Karim Zaghib, Hydro-Québec researcher: One of the most influential scientists in the world three years in a row |url=http://news.hydroquebec.com/en/press-releases/1301/karim-zaghib-hydro-quebec-researcher-one-of-the-most-influential-scientists-in-the-world-three-years-in-a-row/ |access-date=22 March 2023 |publisher=Hydro-Québec |date=4 December 2017}}
Elected Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering in 2017{{cite news |title=Fifty-two new Fellows inducted into the Canadian Academy of Engineering |url=https://www.cae-acg.ca/fifty-two-new-fellows-inducted-into-the-canadian-academy-of-engineering/ |access-date=22 March 2023 |date=26 June 2017}}
Québec-Japan Business Prize 2017 from the Québec-Japan Business Forum{{cite web |title=Karim Zaghib, récipiendaire |url=https://prixduquebec.gouv.qc.ca/recipiendaires/karim-zaghib/ |website=Les Prix du Québec|date=6 November 2019 }}
International Battery Association Technology Award 2017
Prix Lionel-Boulet from the Government of Québec{{cite news |title=Hydro-Québec researcher Karim Zaghib wins the Lionel-Boulet Award |url=http://news.hydroquebec.com/en/press-releases/1549/hydro-quebec-researcher-karim-zaghib-wins-the-lionel-boulet-award/ |access-date=22 March 2023 |publisher=Hydro-Québec |date=11 October 2019}}
Elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada in 2021{{cite news |title=The RSC Presents the Class of 2021 |url=https://rsc-src.ca/en/news/press-release-rsc-presents-class-2021 |access-date=22 March 2023 |publisher=The Royal Society of Canada |date=7 September 2021}}
Kalev Pugi Award 2022 from the Society of Chemical Industry{{cite news |last1=Parial |first1=Elena |title=Karim Zaghib wins Kalev Pugi Award from Society of Chemical Industry |url=https://www.concordia.ca/cunews/encs/chemical-materials-eng/2022/04/karim-zaghib-wins-kalev-pugi-award.html?c=/ginacody/news |access-date=22 March 2023 |publisher=Concordia University |date=11 April 2022}}