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SUMMARY:MechE Colloquium: Engineering Local Chemical Environments in Elect
 rolytes for Efficient Batteries
DTSTART:20250415T120000
DTEND:20250415T130000
DTSTAMP:20260412T084715Z
UID:c681224b320b6bccf70b9ef83b3e16362f041a429002bd0f25561af8
CATEGORIES:Conferences - Seminars
DESCRIPTION:Prof. Maria R. Lukatskaya\, Department of Mechanical and Proc
 ess Engineering\, ETH Zürich\nAbstract: Electrolytes play a crucial role
  in energy storage devices\, impacting their environmental footprint\, saf
 ety\, cost\, and performance. This talk will cover two key areas of electr
 olyte research for improving batteries. First\, we will explore water-bas
 ed batteries. Aqueous electrolytes\, being non-flammable and less toxic\, 
 offer safer battery operation. However\, their limited electrochemical sta
 bility window reduces energy density. To address this\, highly concentrate
 d "water-in-salt" (WIS) electrolytes have been developed\, significantly e
 xpanding the stability window and enhancing the performance of Li-ion and 
 Zn metal batteries for grid energy storage. Despite their advantages\, WIS
  electrolytes have high viscosity and require large amounts of potentially
  toxic salts\, which limits their usability. We will discuss how cation so
 lvation\, electrolyte structure\, and hydrogen bonding influence the elect
 rochemical properties and performance\, particularly in Zn plating/strippi
 ng and electrolyte decomposition. Additionally\, we will explore strategie
 s for engineering relatively dilute electrolytes for efficient aqueous bat
 teries. Second\, the talk will present a novel method for stabilizing int
 erfaces in Li metal batteries (LiMBs). Conventional electrolytes result in
  low cycle life and safety issues due to "dead" lithium and dendrite forma
 tion. Prior research suggests that fluorine-rich interfacial layer chemist
 ry is important for the stabilization of Li-metal anodes\, which can be ac
 hieved when electrolytes with a high fraction of fluorinated solvents and/
 or salts are used. We propose an alternative approach using electrostatic 
 attraction between positively charged readily reducible fluorinated cation
 s and the negatively charged anode. This method enables the formation of a
  robust fluorine-rich interfacial layer with minimal additive (∼0.1 wt%)
 \, facilitating dense\, conformal Li deposition. This strategy can offers 
 a cost-effective\, environmentally friendly solution for enhancing high-en
 ergy batteries.\n\n\nBiography: Dr. Maria Lukatskaya is a tenure-track as
 sistant professor of Electrochemical Energy Systems in Department of Mecha
 nical and Process Engineering at ETH Zürich and a head of Electrochemical
  Energy Systems Laboratory. She received her Ph.D. from Drexel University 
 (USA) followed by postdoctoral stay at Stanford University (USA) and SLAC 
 National Accelerator Laboratory (USA). Dr. Lukatskaya is a Highly Cited Re
 searcher (2021-2024) and SNSF Staring Grant awardee. She received a number
  of international awards\, including Faraday Division Horizon Prize (by Ro
 yal Society of Chemistry)\, Energy and Environmental Science Lectureship A
 ward\, iCANX ACS Nano Lectureship Award\, MRS Gold Graduate Student Award\
 , The George Hill Jr. Endowed Fellowship Fund and others.
LOCATION:MED 0 1418 https://plan.epfl.ch/?room==MED%200%201418 https://epf
 l.zoom.us/j/64267570786
STATUS:CONFIRMED
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