By Dr. Karim Zaghib, Director at Hydro-Québec, Canada.
Director at Hydro-Québec, Canada
We report a Li-ion battery that can be charged within few minutes, passes the safety tests, and has a very long shelf life. The active materials are nanoparticles of LiFePO4 (LFP) and Li4Ti5O12 (LTO) for the positive and negative electrodes, respectively. The LiFePO4 particles are covered with 2 wt.% carbon to optimize the electrical conductivity, but not the Li4Ti5O12 particles. The electrolyte is the usual carbonate solvent. The binder is a water-soluble elastomer. The “18650” battery prepared under such conditions delivers a capacity of 800 mAh. It retains full capacity after 20,000 cycles performed at charge rate 10C (6 min), discharge rate 5C (12 min), and retains 95% capacity after 30,000 cycles at charge rate 15C (4 mn) and discharge rate 5C both at 100% DOD and 100% SOC.
Novel lithium metal polymer solid state batteries with nano CLiFePO4 and nano Li1.2V3O8 counter-electrodes (average particle size 200 nm) were studied for the first time by in situ SEM and impedance during cycling. The kinetics of Li-motion during cycling is analyzed self-consistently together with the electrochemical properties. We show that the cycling life of the nano Li1.2V3O8 is limited by the dissolution of the vanadium in the electrolyte, which explains the choice of nano C-LiFePO4 (1300 cycles at 100% DOD): with this olivine, no dissolution is observed. In combination with lithium metal, at high loading and with a stable SEI an ultrahigh energy density battery was thus newly developed in our laboratory. The electrochemical of new polymer with high voltage with NMC cathode material will show during this presentation.
The commercial use of lithium metal batteries was delayed because of dendrite formation on the surface of the lithium electrode, and the difficulty finding a suitable electrolyte that has both the mechanical strength and ionic conductivity required for solid electrolytes. Recently, strategies have developed to overcome these difficulties, so that these batteries are currently an option for different applications, including electric cars. In this work, we review these strategies, and discuss the different routes that are promising for progress in the near future. We will explain the Gen 2 solid state lithium metal battery technology: from the laboratory to commercialization.
Authors
K. Zaghib1, K. Chisu1, M. Cho1, A. Guerfi1, P. Bouchard1, A. Mauger2, C. M. Julien3, and M. Armand4
(1) Center of Excellence in Electrification Transportation and Energy Storage Hydro-Québec (CETEES), Canada.
(2) Sorbonne Universités, UPMC Univ Paris 06, Institut de Minéralogie, de Physique des Matériaux et de Cosmochimie (IMPMC), Paris, France.
(3) Sorbonne Universités, UPMC Univ Paris 06, Physicochimie des Electrolytes et Nanosystèmes Interfaciaux (PHENIX), Paris, France.
(4) CIC Energigune, Miñano, Spain.
Biography
Dr. Karim Zaghib is the Director of – Energy Storage and Conversion at Hydro-Québec’s research institute, IREQ, ranks among the researchers most highly cited by their peers, as established by Thomson Reuters’ The World’s Most Influential Scientific Minds 2015 and 2016. Since joining IREQ more than 20 years ago, he has contributed to the development of lithium-ion battery materials for electric transportation and energy storage applications. Dr. Zaghib has authored 368 scientific articles and edited or co-edited nearly 20 books, and is a joint inventor in 550 patents. An active member of the Electrochemical Society, he was awarded the Energy Technology Division Award 2009 and the Battery Division Technology Award 2013, and was elected ECS Fellow in 2011. He also received the International Electric Research Exchange (IERE) Research Award in 2008 and the International Battery Association (IBA) Research Award in 2010. Karim Zaghib holds a Masters (1987) and a Ph.D. (1990) in electrochemistry from the Institut national polytechnique de Grenoble in France. From 1990 to 1992, he engaged in postdoctoral research financed by Saft, a world leader in high-tech batteries, and by the armament branch of France’s department of defense. From 1992 to 1995, he was guest researcher for the Japanese Ministry of International Trade and Industry (METI). In 2002, he received the HDR (Habilitation à diriger des recherches) in materials science from the Université Pierre et Marie Curie (France). Thanks to Dr. Zaghib’s work, Hydro-Québec was the first company in the world to use lithium iron phosphate in Li-ion battery cathodes and to develop natural graphite and nanotitanate anodes. The most recent advances resulting from his work, which were achieved in collaboration with research centres based in Singapour and Spain, among other countries, will pave the way for the next generation of electric vehicle batteries. His research also led to the creation of Technologies Esstalion, a joint venture with Sony Corporation whose mission is to develop large-scale energy storage systems.