Solid-State Batteries & Polymer Electrolytes
Abstract
Lithium ion batteries are widely used in our daily life devices from mobile phones, laptop computers to electric vehicles. However, every few years, exploding phones find a way to dominate the news cycle. Safety issue is becoming a big concern to our society. The cause of these incidents was the short-circuiting of the lithium ion battery, which resulted in ignition of the highly flammable liquid electrolyte material. In theory, a lithium ion battery consist of two electrodes, which are separated by an electrolyte layer. The electrolytes used in current lithium ion batteries consist of highly flammable liquid solvents, which are the main accounts for these safety hazards. One of solutions to improve battery safety is therefore to replace the flammable components. The Solid-State Batteries Team aims at developing and designing novel solid, non-flammable materials based on organic ionic plastic crystals (OIPCs) and polymers for next generation reliable and safe battery systems.
Image above taken from https://trends.directindustry.com/project-188281.html
This video has been sourced from youtube.
Dr Xiaoen Wang
Head Researcher
Dr Xiaoen Wang is a research fellow at Institute for Frontier Materials (IFM), Deakin University. Dr Wang was working on proton exchange membrane full cells during his PhD in Wuhan University of Technology, China. Since he joined Deakin in 2014, he has been focusing on solid-state polymer electrolytes, nanocomposites, and their applications in energy storage and conversion devices. Currently, his work includes: (1) understanding the phase behaviour, ionic dynamics and electrochemical properties in ionic liquids-containing polymer electrolytes; (2) design of high performance polymer electrolytes for safe, high energy density lithium, sodium-metal battery applications
Dr Yan Liang
Yan Liang received her PhD degree from Monash University at the end of 2017. Her research background is fabricating and studying functional carbon materials as effective electrocatalysts for electrocatalysis process of oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) and carbon dioxide reduction reaction (CRR). She recently started associate research fellow position in solid lithium battery area in Institute for Frontier Materials in Deakin University. Her project is to fabricate effective cathode materials for solid lithium battery.
Yady Senayda Garcia Castillo
Yady graduated with a bachelor in Chemical Engineering and a Masters in Materials Engineering at the Universidad Industrial de Santander in Colombia. At the time she was finishing her master, she worked as a young researcher to develop a research project, share her experience with high school students, and back to them in their research projects. After, she was working as a “leader teacher in the room class” for an NGO called Ceiba and the Universidad Tecnológica del Chocó in the middle of the Colombian jungle. Her role was offering support and motivation to Afro-descendant communities in order to learn science. Last year, she was teaching Science Materials in the Universidad de Investigación y Desarrollo. Now, she is a PhD student at Deakin University in the Institute for Frontier Materials. Current project focuses on the Solid State NMR characterisation of electromaterials for their use in batteries.
Greg Rollo-Walker
Originally from the United Kingdom, growing up in London before going to the University of Bath to study an undergraduate master’s degree in Chemistry. During this degree he spent a year in industry at the Future Industries Institute in UniSA. Graduated with 1st Class Honours from the University of Bath in the summer of 2019 before moving back to Australia to carry out a PhD at Deakin University in the Institute for Frontier Materials as part of the storEnergy research training centre. Current project focuses on the synthesis of polymer electrolytes for their use in solid-state batteries.
Outside of the lab Greg likes to spend his time doing outdoors activities and sports such as AFL, swimming and hiking.
This video has been sourced from youtube.
Team Objective
The team aims at developments of solid-state electrolytes and high energy density batteries with lithium metal. Particularly, our work includes molecular level understanding (ion mobility, transport behaviours), macroscopic electrolyte and cathode design and final battery devices demonstration. Their recent studies are listed as below:
Research relating to Solid-State Batteries
From Theory to Reality
Toward High-Energy-Density Lithium Metal Batteries: Opportunities and Challenges for Solid Organic Electrolytes
January 2020
Xiaoen Wang,* Robert Kerr, Fangfang Chen, Nicolas Goujon, Jennifer M. Pringle, David Mecerreyes, Maria Forsyth, and Patrick C. Howlett*
To read article please follow the below link and follow page instructions: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/adma.201905219
Poly(Ionic Liquid)s-in-Salt Electrolytes with Co-coordination-Assisted Lithium-Ion Transportfor Safe Batteries
November 2019
Xiaoen Wang, Fangfang Chen,Gaetan M.A. Girard, ..., MichelArmand, Patrick C. Howlett,Maria Forsyth
To read article please follow below link and follow page instructions: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S2542435119303526
Poly(ionic liquid)s/Electrospun Nanofiber Composite Polymer Electrolytes for High Energy Density and Safe Li Metal Batteries
July 2019
Xiaoen Wang,†Gaetan M. A. Girard,†Haijin Zhu,†Ruhamah Yunis,†Douglas R. MacFarlane,‡David Mecerreyes,§Aninda J. Bhattacharyya,∥Patrick C. Howlett,†and Maria Forsyth*
To read article please follow below link and follow page instructions: https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acsaem.9b00765
For more detailed info follow the below link or go to https://www.bestmag.co.uk/