Making safer, more powerful lithium-ion batteries requires right recipe
Mukherjee added, “Let’s take electric vehicles, for example.
“People are interested in three things. Performance: How fast can I drive my car? Life: How long can I drive my car before recharging it? And finally, safety
In a typical electric car, the batteries are not one massive unit, but thousands of individual cells wired together.
If one fails, what happens to the others nearby? For one test, a sample module of 24 cells (about seat! That’s why it’s important to understand the fundamentals of these phenomena, so we can prevent it from happening.”
Rechargeable batteries typically contain a positive electrode and a negative electrode, consisting of ‘active material’ to store lithium. Between the two electrodes is a separator, and there is liquid electrolyte throughout, to transport lithium ions.
Finally, a combination of electrochemically inactive materials, such as conductive additives and binders (called the ‘secondary phase’) helps to shape the physical ingredients in the composite porous electrodes and enhance the electrical conductivity.
In the published research, Mukherjee and his team examine the relationship between the active material and secondary phase on the micro- and nano-scale — the porosity, the physical shapes, and their interactions with each other.
Altering any of these characteristics results in significant changes in the battery’s overall performance.
Mukherjee said, “We’re still at a nascent stage in understanding these complex interactions.
“But that’s the key to our research. We connect what’s happening at the micro- and nanoscale to the battery’s performance, life, and safety.”
And as rechargeable batteries become more prevalent, their research becomes even more vital.
Mukherjee added, “Batteries are being used everywhere, from portable electronics to vehicles, and even in large-scale electrical grids. This is a great and exciting time to do research in energy storage.”