Energy conversion and storage continue to be rich areas for scientific and engineering studies. Energy independence and alternate energy sources have been added to the environmental concerns of fossil fuel based energies. Fuel cells may be an integral part of energy sustainability and a cleaner environment by converting chemical energy of fuels to electricity directly. The fuel, ‘hydrogen’, can be produced by electrolysis driven by distributed renewables and then stored to buffer viability of the renewable sources. As a tangible energy storage to redeem hydrogen, batteries are evolving into Li-air or Na-ion batteries to achieve higher energy and power densities with low cost. ECSM Lab. explores electrode materials for fuel cells, electrolysis cells, and next generation batteries to expedite the fossil-free energy society.