Topic 01-14 : Fluorinated solvent based electrolytes and metal anode based batteries

The ESR research project will use different promising fluorinated (or halogenated) solvents for electrolyte preparation. The physicochemical properties (viscosity, conductivity, etc.) of the electrolytes will be determined under various conditions of interest (e.g. low and elevated temperatures). The performance of the electrolytes will initially be evaluated for electrochemical stability windows and compatibility vs. various metal anodes (lithium, sodium, magnesium). Suitable electrolytes will be chosen for further electrochemical tests to determine the efficiency of stripping and deposition of the metal anodes, overpotenitals exhibited during such processes, as well as dendrite growth tendencies. Complementary techniques will be used to characterise the properties and morphology of the passive layer on the surface of the metal (XPS, IR, SEM, FIB-SEM). Impedance spectroscopy will be used for a more in-depth understanding of the mechanism of operation, to determine the bottleneck processes and suitable mitigation strategies. A compatible cathode chemistry will ultimately be paired with the developed high performant electrolyte/anode system to demonstrate applicability in full battery cells.

During her/his secondment the ESR will at Chalmers focus on studies of solvation in detail, especially the nature of the charge carriers, by IR and (operando) Raman spectroscopy as well as learning how to perform and interpret supporting basic DFT and COSMO-RS calculations. The resulting data will be fed back to the electrolyte composition stages at NIC/UL. Variations in solvent design such as other halogenations than fluorination will be investigated in silico.
Mobility scheme: Y1: NIC, Y2: NIC, Chalmers (3 months), Y3: NIC