No Arabic abstract
Quantum chemistry simulations of four industrially relevant molecules are reported. Dissociation curves and dipole moments are reported for lithium hydride (LiH), hydrogen sulfide (H2S), lithium hydrogen sulfide (LiSH) and lithium sulfide (Li2S). Herein, we demonstrate the ability to calculate dipole moments using up to 21 qubits on a quantum simulator for a lithium sulfur salt molecule, and demonstrate the ability to calculate the dipole moment of the LiH molecule on the IBM Q Valencia device using four qubits. This is the first example to the best of our knowledge of dipole moment calculations being performed on quantum hardware.
Thin film solid state lithium-based batteries (TSSBs) are increasingly attractive for their intrinsic safety due to the use of a nonflammable solid electrolyte, cycling stability, and ability to be easily patterned in small form factors. However, existing methods for fabricating TSSBs are limited to planar geometries, which severely limits areal energy density when the electrodes are kept sufficiently thin to achieve high areal power. In order to circumvent this limitation, we report the first successful fabrication of fully conformal, 3D full cell TSSBs formed in micromachined silicon substrates with aspect ratios up to ~10 using atomic layer deposition (ALD) at low processing temperatures (at or below 250C) to deposit all active battery components. The cells utilize a prelithiated LiV$_2$O$_5$ cathode, a very thin (40 - 100 nm) LiPON-like lithium polyphosphazene (Li$_2$PO$_2$N) solid electrolyte, and a SnN$_x$ conversion anode, along with Ru and TiN current collectors. Planar all-ALD solid state cells deliver 37 {mu}Ah/cm$^2${mu}m normalized to the cathode thickness with only 0.02% per-cycle capacity loss for hundreds of cycles. Fabrication of full cells in 3D substrates increases the areal discharge capacity by up to a factor of 9.3x while simultaneously improving the rate performance, which corresponds well to trends identified by finite element simulations of the cathode film. This work shows that the exceptional conformality of ALD, combined with conventional semiconductor fabrication methods, provides an avenue for the successful realization of long-sought 3D TSSBs which provide power performance scaling in regimes inaccessible to planar form factor devices.
In this article, we derive and discuss a physics-based model for impedance spectroscopy of lithium batteries. Our model for electrochemical cells with planar electrodes takes into account the solid-electrolyte interphase (SEI) as porous surface film. We present two improvements over standard impedance models. Firstly, our model is based on a consistent description of lithium transport through electrolyte and SEI. We use well-defined transport parameters, e.g., transference numbers, and consider convection of the center-of-mass. Secondly, we solve our model equations analytically and state the full transport parameter dependence of the impedance signals. Our consistent model results in an analytic expression for the cell impedance including bulk and surface processes. The impedance signals due to concentration polarizations highlight the importance of electrolyte convection in concentrated electrolytes. We simplify our expression for the complex impedance and compare it to common equivalent circuit models. Such simplified models are good approximations in concise parameter ranges. Finally, we compare our model with experiments of lithium metal electrodes and find large transference numbers for lithium ions. This analysis reveals that lithium-ion transport through the SEI has solid electrolyte character.
Lithium metal batteries are seen as a critical piece towards electrifying aviation. During charging, plating of lithium metal, a critical failure mechanism, has been studied and mitigation strategies have been proposed. For electric aircraft, high discharge power requirements necessitate stripping of lithium metal in an uniform way and recent studies have identified the evolution of surface voids and pits as a potential failure mechanism. In this work, using density functional theory calculations and thermodynamic analysis, we investigate the discharge process on lithium metal surfaces. In particular, we calculate the tendency for vacancy congregation on lithium metal surfaces, which constitutes the first step in the formation of voids and pits. We find that among the low Miller index surfaces, the (111) surface is the least likely to exhibit pitting issues. Our analysis suggests that faceting control during electrodeposition could be a key pathway towards simultaneously enabling both fast charge and fast discharge.
In the lithium-ion battery literature, discharges followed by a relaxation to equilibrium are frequently used to validate models and their parametrizations. Good agreement with experiment during discharge is easily attained with a pseudo-two-dimensional model such as the Doyle-Fuller-Newman (DFN) model. The relaxation portion, however, is typically not well-reproduced, with the relaxation in experiments occurring much more slowly than in models. In this study, using a model that includes a size distribution of the active material particles, we give a physical explanation for the slow relaxation phenomenon. This model, the Many-Particle-DFN (MP-DFN), is compared against discharge and relaxation data from the literature, and optimal fits of the size distribution parameters (mean and variance), as well as solid-state diffusivities, are found using numerical optimization. The voltage after relaxation is captured by careful choice of the current cut-off time, allowing a single set of physical parameters to be used for all C-rates, in contrast to previous studies. We find that the MP-DFN can accurately reproduce the slow relaxation, across a range of C-rates, whereas the DFN cannot. Size distributions allow for greater internal heterogeneities, giving a natural origin of slower relaxation timescales that may be relevant in other, as yet explained, battery behavior.
The existence of passivating layers at the interfaces is a major factor enabling modern lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries. Their properties determine the cycle life, performance, and safety of batteries. A special case is the solid electrolyte interphase (SEI), a heterogeneous multi-component film formed due to the instability and subsequent decomposition of the electrolyte at the surface of the anode. The SEI acts as a passivating layer that hinders further electrolyte disintegration, which is detrimental to the Coulombic efficiency. In this work, we use first-principles simulations to investigate the kinetic and electronic properties of the interface between lithium fluoride (LiF) and lithium carbonate (Li$_2$CO$_3$), two common SEI components present in Li-ion batteries with organic liquid electrolytes. We find a coherent interface between these components that restricts the strain in each of them to below 3%. We find that the interface causes a large increase in the formation energy of the Frenkel defect, generating Li vacancies in LiF and Li interstitials in Li$_2$CO$_3$ responsible for transport. On the other hand, the Li interstitial hopping barrier is reduced from $0.3$ eV in bulk Li$_2$CO$_3$ to $0.10$ or $0.22$ eV in the interfacial structure considered, demonstrating the favorable role of the interface. Controlling these two effects in a heterogeneous SEI is crucial for maintaining fast ion transport in the SEI. We further perform Car-Parrinello molecular dynamics simulations to explore Li ion conduction in our interfacial structure, which reveal an enhanced Li ion diffusion in the vicinity of the interface. Understanding the interfacial properties of the multiphase SEI represents an important frontier to enable next-generation batteries.