Amorphous electrode materials for rechargeable batteries
Navn på bevillingshaver
Dorthe Bomholdt Ravnsbæk
Institution
University of Southern Denmark
Beløb
DKK 4,490,000
År
2017
Bevillingstype
Semper Ardens: Accelerate
Hvad?
Present day rechargeable Li-ion batteries are built from electrodes, which are highly crystalline. This means, that the atoms in the materials are structured in a highly symmetrical manner. This project will investigate how disordered, so-called amorphous, materials function as electrodes in rechargeable batteries. Especially, the project will shed light on how ions (e.g. Li-ions) are stored in the disordered materials during battery charge and discharge. Here we will look at the atomic-scale mechanisms for how the ions enter and leave the disordered materials, and how it affects the battery performance.
Hvorfor?
In our future energy system rechargeable batteries plays an essential role for both transportation and energy storage. This puts high requirements on price, safety and life time of the technology. Hence, completely new battery technologies need to be developed. Compared to their crystalline counterparts, amorphous materials often have significantly lower production costs. Thus, they hold the promise to lower battery prices significantly. Furthermore, several amorphous materials show high ion storage capacity - some even double that of their crystalline counter parts. However, to successfully develop stable cheap electrodes from amorphous materials enhanced knowledge about how these materials store ions and how their structure correlates with their electrochemical behavior is needed.
Hvordan?
At the center of the project is our ability to "see" how the atomic structure of the disordered electrodes changes, while the battery is operating, i.e. during charge and discharge. This is achieved by using very intense X-ray radiation and specially designed battery test cells. With these tools we utilise the X-rays scattered from the electrode materials to construct movies of the structural changes. Furthermore, as the project deals with disordered materials, we will turn towards new methodologies for battery material characterisation such as spectroscopy, which we also aim to use while the battery is being operated. For the project, a PhD student and a post-doctoral researcher will work with several master students under the supervision of the project leader to ensure project synergy.