Academic Credentials
  • Ph.D., Mechanical Engineering, Vanderbilt University, 2018
  • B.S., Physics, Tufts University, 2011
Professional Honors
  • NSF Graduate Research Fellowship, National Science Foundation, 2015-2018

Dr. Cohn is an experienced materials scientist specializing in battery technology. At Exponent, he leads a team focused on helping clients navigate challenges across the entire life cycle of their batteries and battery-powered products, including projects focused on technology due diligence, battery cell and pack quality evaluations, cycling studies, charging protocol analysis, customized abuse testing, root cause failure analysis, and product recalls involving the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC).

He supports clients across a range of battery sectors, including consumer electronics, electric vehicles, portable battery backup systems, and residential and utility battery energy storage systems (BESS). Dr. Cohn is a member of the Standard Technical Panel for UL 2743 Portable Power Packs. He has also guest lectured at University of California schools on lithium-ion battery technology and failure analysis techniques.

Dr. Cohn has served as an expert witness in intellectual property (IP) disputes, leveraging his skills analyzing batteries from the macro scale down to the atomic scale. He has supported due diligence and IP litigation related to battery manufacturing, electrode design, separator design, crystal structure of active material, mechanical properties of current collectors, and nanoscale conductive additives and active material coatings. He has also conducted dozens of inspections and battery fire investigations.

Dr. Cohn has experience working on current and emerging battery chemistries, including lithium ion (NMC, NCA, LCO, LFP), rechargeable lithium metal, sodium ion, lithium thionyl chloride (Li/SOCl2), and lithium manganese dioxide (Li/MnO2). He has led the analysis of a wide variety of cell types, including large format 314 Ah and 628 Ah prismatic LFP cells for BESS applications. He is experienced at analyzing batteries using X-ray imaging, CT scanning, cell teardowns, cryo resistance, cryo HiPot, reference electrode testing, cycling, and electrical and thermal abuse testing. He is also skilled at characterizing battery materials using Raman spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy with energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (SEM-EDS), scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM), focused ion beam (FIB), and particle size analysis techniques.

As a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow at Vanderbilt University, Dr. Cohn's research was focused on the design, development, and characterization of new energy storage systems, including the development of the first "anode-free" sodium battery and the first anode-free battery incorporating a nucleation layer on the negative current collector. He also collaborated with colleagues to develop intercalation-driven display technology (US Patent 11,287,642) and a silicon supercapacitor integrated into a solar cell.  

During his research, Dr. Cohn prepared and tested a wide range of battery electrode materials including polyanionic cathodes (e.g., sodium vanadium phosphate), Prussian blue analogues, carbon materials (e.g., activated carbon, hard carbon, graphite, graphene, carbon nanotubes), and alloying anodes (e.g., tin, bismuth, silicon). To help better understand underlying battery mechanisms, he conducted in-situ studies of intercalation and electrochemical plating processes. He also gained experience with a range of synthesis and deposition techniques, including sol-gel synthesis, wet-chemical synthesis, hydrothermal synthesis, solid-state synthesis, aluminum anodization, chemical vapor deposition (CVD), porous silicon etching, and atomic layer deposition (ALD).