Chemical Engineering Seminar - Beyond Lithium-Ion: Conversion Electrodes, Solid State and Aqueous Batteries

Energy density and cost of Li-ion batteries (LIBs) based on conventional intercalation compounds are closely approaching their limits. The reliance of conventional cathodes on the use of toxic metals additionally endangers health and safety of miners in developing countries. Conversion-type active materials offer an opportunity to double energy stored in LIBs, reduce their cost by the same factor, and improve cell safety. These materials may be produced from safer, cheaper and globally available resources and contribute to accelerated adoption of electric vehicles.  For electrical grid storage and other applications that demand even lower cost and improved safety, but do not require high energy density or fast charging, aqueous batteries based on low-cost raw materials will likely become instrumental. Finally, solid state batteries may offer enhanced safety, high specific energy and longer cycle stability and thus their development may benefit future electric flight and autonomous vehicle technologies. Critically important for the adoption by industry, novel materials and battery technologies should serve as drop-in replacements and be fully compatible with existing electrode manufacturing and cell assembling techniques. My talk will cover existing challenges, approaches taken by our group and others to address these and fundamentals of novel electrochemical energy storage chemistries beyond traditional Li-ion.