Project Title: Development of advanced battery technologies for energy storage.
Research overview. The energy crisis, climate change, and environmental pollution represent daunting challenges for human society, due to the massive use of fossil-based energy. To address this issue, one promising solution is to integrate clean and renewable energy (solar and wind) into the electric grids. Meanwhile, there is an increasing demand to develop long-range electric vehicles to replace combustion engine vehicles. To this end, the development of advanced battery technologies is critical.
Currently, lithium-ion batteries have overwhelmed the majority of markets such as portable electronics (cellphones, laptops) and electric vehicles; however, they still suffer from some intrinsic drawbacks, which significantly retarded their applications in the above-mentioned areas. Firstly, lithium has a limited reserve in the Earth’s crust (~20 ppm) and an uneven geographical distribution, which leads to the increasing price of lithium-ion batteries. Therefore, post-lithium battery alternatives, such as sodium, potassium, zinc, and proton, have received growing attention for large-scale energy storage. Secondly, lithium-ion batteries manage to provide moderate energy storage of 150-250 Wh kg-1, which is not sufficient for long-range electric vehicles (350-500 Wh kg-1). To tackle this challenge, solid-state batteries, either lithium-ion or lithium metal batteries, have been attracting tremendous attention from the industry and research community, due to the potential use of high-capacity alloy (Sn, Si) and lithium metal anodes. Thirdly, lithium-ion batteries employ flammable organic solvents (carbonates, ethers) as electrolytes, which incur severe safety concerns, such as catching fire and explosion. In this regard, replacing organic electrolytes with solid-state electrolytes or aqueous electrolytes can effectively mitigate this issue. Based on these discussions, PR-CLIMB participants will study the following three battery topics: (1) lithium-ion batteries and beyond; (2) solid-state batteries; (3) aqueous batteries.
Skills/Techniques: PR-CLIMB participants will gain a good understanding of the battery working mechanism, research status, and present challenges for energy storage. They will also gain hands-on experience in the process of electrode preparation, battery assembly, battery testing, and electrochemical data analysis. Electrochemical methods, such as galvanostatic charge/discharge, cyclic voltammetry, and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, will be used.
Currently, lithium-ion batteries have overwhelmed the majority of markets such as portable electronics (cellphones, laptops) and electric vehicles; however, they still suffer from some intrinsic drawbacks, which significantly retarded their applications in the above-mentioned areas. Firstly, lithium has a limited reserve in the Earth’s crust (~20 ppm) and an uneven geographical distribution, which leads to the increasing price of lithium-ion batteries. Therefore, post-lithium battery alternatives, such as sodium, potassium, zinc, and proton, have received growing attention for large-scale energy storage. Secondly, lithium-ion batteries manage to provide moderate energy storage of 150-250 Wh kg-1, which is not sufficient for long-range electric vehicles (350-500 Wh kg-1). To tackle this challenge, solid-state batteries, either lithium-ion or lithium metal batteries, have been attracting tremendous attention from the industry and research community, due to the potential use of high-capacity alloy (Sn, Si) and lithium metal anodes. Thirdly, lithium-ion batteries employ flammable organic solvents (carbonates, ethers) as electrolytes, which incur severe safety concerns, such as catching fire and explosion. In this regard, replacing organic electrolytes with solid-state electrolytes or aqueous electrolytes can effectively mitigate this issue. Based on these discussions, PR-CLIMB participants will study the following three battery topics: (1) lithium-ion batteries and beyond; (2) solid-state batteries; (3) aqueous batteries.
Skills/Techniques: PR-CLIMB participants will gain a good understanding of the battery working mechanism, research status, and present challenges for energy storage. They will also gain hands-on experience in the process of electrode preparation, battery assembly, battery testing, and electrochemical data analysis. Electrochemical methods, such as galvanostatic charge/discharge, cyclic voltammetry, and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, will be used.