WFU Joint Physics and Chemistry Colloquium

TITLE: Delving Into the Depths of Solution Structure--Developing Tools for Lithium Battery Electrolyte Characterization

SPEAKER: Professor Wesley Henderson,

TIME: Wednesday February 1, 2012 at 4:00 PM

PLACE: Room 101 Olin Physical Laboratory

Lithium battery electrolytes remain a poorly understood and hardly studied topic relative to the research devoted to battery electrodes. This is likely due to the fact that it is the electrodes which determine the energy (capacity) of the battery. The electrolyte, however, plays an essential role in battery performance, safety and durability -- it is both figuratively and literally the core of batteries, which, in turn, are the heart that pulses life into portable electronics and Electric/Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles (EV/PHEVs). Frequently, the electrolyte is the bottleneck in achieving critical device performance criteria. Molecular-level electrolyte interactions govern material properties, but such interactions remain a murky, poorly understood and hardly studied topic. The state-of-the-art electrolyte (solvent-salt mixture) used in current Li-ion batteries for consumer electronics has undergone only minor changes over the past 20 years. Unfortunately, this electrolyte is poorly optimized for use with new battery materials and it is unclear how to formulate new electrolytes to meet the demanding needs for advanced lithium batteries. Only limited information is available in the scientific literature regarding the solution structure of electrolyte mixtures and the corresponding link between this and electrolyte properties. New "tools" (protocols) are therefore being developed to explore the molecular interactions in bulk electrolytes through a synergistic experimental and computational approach which will enable the rational design of electrolytes for a wide variety of battery chemistries and applications (electrolytes on demand).

Link to Prof. Henderson's course materials on "Engineering Challenges at the Energy Frontier"