Physics and Chemistry of Materials for Energy Storage

This proposal covers basic studies in three areas: 1) Combinatorial and high-throughput materials science methods where hundreds of samples are prepared and tested in parallel; 2) Fundamental understanding and elimination of degradation in Li-ion batteries leading to batteries well-suited to electric vehicle applications and 3) a new project now beginning on rechargeable Zn-air batteries. The Discovery Grant (DG) supports fundamental studies and basic science while Dahn's other funding supports more applied studies.

Jeff Dahn's NSERC/Industrial Research Chair (IRC) program supports applied studies that continually use the combinatorial and high-throughput materials science methods developed during the DG work. New methods involving the use of a newly acquired combinatorial solutions handling robot will be developed under DG funding and used to characterize positive electrode materials for Li-ion batteries.

The impact of new electrode materials and electrolyte additives on lithium-ion battery lifetime and cycle life will be studied using newly developed, unique in the world, methods. Presently, the way that 99% of such battery chemistry changes affect cycle and calendar life of Li-ion batteries is not well understood and this is where the DG research will play a major role.

Zn-air batteries have the largest volumetric energy density of any commercially available battery technology, however, they are not presently rechargeable. Even a tiny Zn-air hearing aid battery, which is largely made up of the battery casing, has a measured energy density of 1800 Wh/L, compared to 700 Wh/L for the best Li-ion cells. We have started a small project in rechargeable Zn-air batteries which will continue under DG funding.