This seminar focuses on our recently constructed research program, selected for funding by the U.S. Department of Energy as an Energy Frontier Research Center (EFRC), that is uniquely well-suited to critically advance the fundamental understanding of interfacial charge separation and transfer processes in nanostructured organic photovoltaic (OPV) and electrical energy storage (EES) materials. Current limitations in the basic scientific understanding of charge separation and transfer processes in these materials represent a major scientific roadblock to achieving U.S. energy security. The mechanistic understanding of these processes in nanomaterials is in its infancy, without a broadly accepted theoretical description. Moreover, existing experimental tools and theoretical models are insufficient to definitively address the many outstanding scientific issues for the complex nanomaterials in this field. Instead, completely new multidisciplinary approaches, featuring greater molecular-level precision and accuracy and closer coupling between theory and modeling, are necessary to drive the fundamental aspects of this field forward. Therefore, we have constructed an EFRC research program that is based on two critical strategies: (i) We will support a set of coordinated research projects that study unique and novel interfacial prototypes that climb the ladder of molecular complexity from well-defined epitaxial crystal/crystal interfaces, through isolated crystal/crystal interfaces, to model polymer/crystal interfaces and then to actual OPV and EES devices. (ii) We will use powerful, state-of-the-art imaging and sub-ensemble methods (e.g., single particle spectroscopy and imaging) to make correlated measurements of structure and charge separation/transfer processes on the molecular scale for each type of interfacial prototype. Experimental data obtained by means of these two strategies will be modeled and analyzed by advanced theoretical and computational methods, leading to new insights on the molecular-level mechanisms of charge separation and transfer functions of complex OPV and EES nanostructured materials. This seminar will introduce the three major research thrusts of our EFRC (interfacial charge separation, interfacial charge transfer and Li+-coupled charge transfer) and describe ongoing research projects within these three thrusts. If successful, this EFRC will produce three important outcomes: (1) new OPV and EES materials that are rationally designed to be substantially more efficient than current state-of-the-art materials; (2) a new suite of molecular-level tools to be used both in academia and in industry to evaluate and optimize these new molecular materials; and (3) the education of a new generation of energy researchers who are trained to produce these materials and utilize these molecular tools.