Lithium-Ion Transport and Exchange Between Phases in a Concentrated Liquid Electrolyte Containing Lithium-Ion-Conducting Inorganic Particles
Lithium-Ion Transport and Exchange Between Phases in a Concentrated Liquid Electrolyte Containing Lithium-Ion-Conducting Inorganic Particles
Abstract
Understanding Li+ transport in organic-inorganic hybrid electrolytes, where Li+ has to lose its organic solvation shell to enter and transport through the inorganic phase, is crucial to the design of high-performance batteries. As a model system, we investigate a range of Li+-conducting particles suspended in a concentrated electrolyte. We show that large Li1.3Al0.3Ti1.7P3O12 and Li6PS5Cl particles can enhance the conductivity of the liquid electrolyte. When studying impedance using a cell with a large cell constant, the Nyquist plot shows two semicircles, a high-frequency semicircle related to ion transport in the bulk of both phases and a medium-frequency semicircle attributed to Li+ transporting through the particle/liquid interfaces. Contrary to the high-frequency resistance, the medium-frequency resistance increases with particle content and shows a higher activation energy. Furthermore, we show that small particles, requiring Li+ to overcome particle/liquid interfaces more frequently, are less effective in facilitating Li+ transport. Overall, this study provides a straightforward approach to study Li+ transport behavior in hybrid electrolytes.
Speaker
Bryan MccloskeyBryan D. McCloskey joined the Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering Department at the University of California, Berkeley, and the BMR program at LBNL in January 2014. His research broadly focuses on characterization of new battery materials that have promise to improve upon the performance of current state-of-the-art Li-ion batteries. He was previously a Research Staff Member at IBM Almaden Research Center, where he worked on the BATT 500 project to elucidate fundamental characteristics of electrochemical processes occurring in Li-O2 batteries. His PhD thesis, supervised by Benny Freeman at the University of Texas at Austin, focused on molecular transport through microporous and dense polymeric membranes, with a particular emphasis on membranes for water purification. He received his B.S. in Chemical Engineering at the Colorado School of Mines where his research, supervised by Drs. Thomas McKinnon and Andrew Herring, focused on employing molecular beam mass spectrometry to characterize aromatic hydrocarbon formation during pyrolysis of cellulosic chars.
Previous Appointments
Research Staff Member, IBM Almaden Research Center, 2012-2013
Postdoctorate, IBM Almaden Research Center 2009-2011