No Arabic abstract
A thick electrode with high areal capacity has been developed as a strategy for high-energy-density lithium-ion batteries, but thick electrodes have difficulties in manufacturing and limitations in ion transport. Here, we reported a new manufacturing approach for ultra-thick electrode with aligned structure, called structure electrode additive manufacturing or SEAM, which aligns active materials to the through-thicknesses direction of electrodes using shear flow and a designed printing path. The ultra-thick electrodes with high loading of active materials, low tortuous structure, and good structure stability resulting from a simple and scalable SEAM lead to rapid ion transport and fast electrolyte infusion, delivering a higher areal capacity than slurry-casted thick electrodes. SEAM shows strengths in design flexibility and scalability, which allows the production of practical high energy/power density structure electrodes.
We present a porous electrode model for lithium-ion batteries using Butler--Volmer reaction kinetics. We model lithium concentration in both the solid and fluid phase along with solid and liquid electric potential. Through asymptotic reduction, we show that the electric potentials are spatially homogeneous which decouples the problem into a series of time-dependent problems. These problems can be solved on three distinguished time scales, an early time scale where capacitance effects in the electrode dominate, a mid-range time scale where a spatial concentration gradient forms in the electrolyte, and a long-time scale where each of the electrodes saturate and deplete with lithium respectively. The solid-phase concentration profiles are linear functions of time and the electrolyte potential is everywhere zero, which allows the model to be reduced to a system of two uncoupled ordinary differential equations. Analytic and numerical results are compared with full numerical simulations and experimental discharge curves demonstrating excellent agreement.
The future of space exploration missions will rely on technologies increasing their endurance and self-sufficiency, including for manufacturing objects on-demand. We propose a process for handling and additively manufacturing powders that functions independently of the gravitational environment and with no restriction on feedstock powder flowability. Based on a specific sequence of boundary loads applied to the granular packing, powder is transported to the printing zone, homogenized and put under compression to increase the density of the final part. The powder deposition process is validated by simulations that show the homogeneity and density of deposition to be insensitive to gravity and cohesion forces within the DEM model. We further provide an experimental proof of concept of the process by successfully 3D printing parts on-ground and in weightlessness, on parabolic flight. Powders exhibiting high and low flowability are used as model feedstock material to demonstrate the versatility of the process, opening the way for additive manufacturing of recycled material.
Lithium metal cells are key towards achieving high specific energy and energy density for electrification of transportation and aviation. Anode-free cells are the limiting case of lithium metal cells involving no excess lithium and the highest possible specific energy. In addition, anode-free cells are easier, cheaper and safer as they avoid handling and manufacturing of lithium metal foils. Issues related to dendrite growth and poor cycling are magnified in anode-free cells due to lack of excess lithium. Electrolyte and current collector surface play a crucial role in affecting the cycling performance of anode-free cells. In this work, we have computationally screened for candidate current collectors that can nucleate lithium effectively and allow uniform growth. These are determined by the free energy of lithium adsorption and lithium surface diffusion barrier on candidate current collectors. Using density functional theory calculations, we show that Li-alloys possess ideal characteristics for Li nucleation and growth. These can lead to vastly improved specific energy compared to current transition metal current collectors.
Using first principles structure searching with density-functional theory (DFT) we identify a novel $Fmbar{3}m$ phase of Cu$_2$P and two low-lying metastable structures, an $Ibar{4}3d$--Cu$_3$P phase, and a $Cm$--Cu$_3$P$_{11}$ phase. The computed pair distribution function of the novel $Cm$--Cu$_3$P$_{11}$ phase shows its structural similarity to the experimentally identified $Cm$--Cu$_2$P$_7$ phase. The relative stability of all Cu--P phases at finite temperatures is determined by calculating the Gibbs free energy using vibrational effects from phonon modes at 0 K. From this, a finite-temperature convex hull is created, on which $Fmbar{3}m$--Cu$_2$P is dynamically stable and the Cu$_{3-x}$P ($x < 1$) defect phase $Cmc2_1$--Cu$_8$P$_3$ remains metastable (within 20 meV/atom of the convex hull) across a temperature range from 0 K to 600 K. Both CuP$_2$ and Cu$_3$P exhibit theoretical gravimetric capacities higher than contemporary graphite anodes for Li-ion batteries; the predicted Cu$_2$P phase has a theoretical gravimetric capacity of 508 mAh/g as a Li-ion battery electrode, greater than both Cu$_3$P (363 mAh/g) and graphite (372 mAh/g). Cu$_2$P is also predicted to be both non-magnetic and metallic, which should promote efficient electron transfer in the anode. Cu$_2$Ps favorable properties as a metallic, high-capacity material suggest its use as a future conversion anode for Li-ion batteries; with a volume expansion of 99% during complete cycling, Cu$_2$P anodes could be more durable than other conversion anodes in the Cu--P system with volume expansions greater than 150%.
In mathematical models of lithium-ion batteries, the highly heterogeneous porous electrodes are frequently approximated as comprising spherical particles of uniform size, leading to the commonly-used single-particle model (SPM) when transport in the electrolyte is assumed to be fast. Here electrode heterogeneity is modelled by extending this to a distribution of particle sizes. Unimodal and bimodal particle-size distributions (PSD) are considered. For a unimodal PSD, the effect of the spread of the distribution on the cell dynamics is investigated, and choice of effective particle radius when approximating by an SPM assessed. Asymptotic techniques are used to derive a correction to the SPM valid for narrow, but realistic, PSDs. In addition, it is shown that the heterogeneous internal states of all particles (relevant when modelling degradation, for example) can be efficiently computed after-the-fact. For a bimodal PSD, the results are well approximated by a double-particle model (DPM), with one size representing each mode. Results for lithium iron phosphate with a bimodal PSD show that the DPM captures an experimentally-observed double-plateau in the discharge curve, suggesting it is entirely due to bimodality.