Cryogenic transmission electron microscopy for next-generation batteries
Abstract/Contents
- Abstract
- Lithium-ion batteries are common in everyday life, while being strategically critical to the decarbonization and electrification of transportation. To meet higher range demands and lower costs per kWh of storage, higher energy density battery chemistries relying on new anode chemistries such as silicon or lithium metal are needed. These new chemistries are attractive for commercialization, but their deployment is hindered by a lack of understanding of their degradation and failure modes, which are dominated by a poorly understood structure on the anode surface called the solid-electrolyte interphase (SEI). Recent breakthroughs in cryogenic transmission electron microscopy (cryo-TEM) now enable the characterization of this highly reactive and radiation sensitive structure, allowing new insight and understanding to be developed towards practical silicon and lithium metal anodes. My PhD dissertation entails the use of cryo-TEM to gain functional insight into the degradation of these materials, which may provide guidance and design rules for practical next-generation lithium battery chemistries. In Chapter 1, I will give an overview of modern lithium-ion batteries, their history and shortcomings, and motivate the need for higher capacity silicon and lithium metal anodes. Chapter 2 will introduce the technique of transmission electron microscopy, an immensely powerful technique for the structural and chemical characterization of materials with atomic resolution, along with the need for cryogenic stabilization when used with lithiated anode materials. Chapter 3 will show how cryo-TEM can be used to derive new insight into the failure modes of the silicon anode, along with the working mechanism of electrolyte additives. Chapter 4 will move beyond lithium-ion chemistries, where I will show how cryo-TEM can be used to refine the SEI nanostructure of the Li metal anode beyond conventional models derived from surface analysis techniques such as x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. In Chapter 5, I will investigate the capacity loss of the lithium metal anode during storage, a critical parameter for electric vehicles, and use cryo-TEM to elucidate the nanoscopic origins of the rapid capacity loss during storage. Finally, in Chapter 6, I will conclude the dissertation with broader insights gained from my studies and an outlook for the battery field, and how cryo-TEM can fit within the suite of modern battery characterization tools.
Description
| Type of resource | text |
|---|---|
| Form | electronic resource; remote; computer; online resource |
| Extent | 1 online resource. |
| Place | California |
| Place | [Stanford, California] |
| Publisher | [Stanford University] |
| Copyright date | 2021; ©2021 |
| Publication date | 2021; 2021 |
| Issuance | monographic |
| Language | English |
Creators/Contributors
| Author | Huang, William |
|---|---|
| Degree supervisor | Cui, Yi, 1976- |
| Thesis advisor | Cui, Yi, 1976- |
| Thesis advisor | Chueh, William |
| Thesis advisor | Sinclair, Robert |
| Degree committee member | Chueh, William |
| Degree committee member | Sinclair, Robert |
| Associated with | Stanford University, Department of Materials Science and Engineering |
Subjects
| Genre | Theses |
|---|---|
| Genre | Text |
Bibliographic information
| Statement of responsibility | William Huang. |
|---|---|
| Note | Submitted to the Department of Materials Science and Engineering. |
| Thesis | Thesis Ph.D. Stanford University 2021. |
| Location | https://purl.stanford.edu/yr557xw4020 |
Access conditions
- Copyright
- © 2021 by William Huang
- License
- This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial 3.0 Unported license (CC BY-NC).
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