Lithium-Ion Batteries; Atomic Scale Know-How to Develop New Components and Understand Degradation

Teaser text

Lithium-ion batteries are currently used extensively across a range of applications. Their increasing uptake in larger-scale applications requires an understanding of degradation mechanisms at the atomic scale and developing new materials or concepts for these batteries.

Body Text

Competitive advantage

  • Access to non-destructive methods to assess battery degradation and failure modes for research and large-scale batteries
  • Variety of analytical tools to determine degradation, in particular in situ or operando neutron and synchrotron X-ray diffraction, and solid-state NMR
  • Knowhow for analysing data from a range of analytical techniques to build a picture of degradation
  • Directed materials design for optimised performance
  • Ability to develop materials, characterise, examine electrochemical performance and understand the chemical reasons behind performance

Impact

  • Development of the next generation of materials for higher performing or specialised lithium-ion batteries
  • Ability to non-destructively assess battery degradation
  • Understanding failure and degradation modes to help design next generation batteries

Successful applications

  • Non-destructively examined the state-of-health of batteries used in testing by Volvo
  • Non-destructively examined the role chemical composition of the cathode plays on cycling and high voltage stability
  • Investigated new chemical doping regimes and their influence on electrochemical performance
  • Investigated batteries in different form factors; e.g. thin film and all-solid-state
  • Investigated new cathodes, anodes and electrolytes

Capabilities and facilities

  • Access to in situ/operando neutron diffraction
  • Access to in situ/operando synchrotron X-ray diffraction and X-ray absorption spectroscopy
  • Solid state NMR
  • X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, Raman, XRD, electron microscopy
  • Battery materials development to research-scale cell development

Our partners

  • Volvo
  • Valence Technologies