Meso and Microstructural Properties in Lithium-Ion Batteries

Rechargeable batteries are porous electrochemical structures composed of secondary particles, which are aggregates of single crystal primary particles, pores, cracks, and processing-induced phases and features. The underlying meso and microstructural topology, including its size, size distribution, morphology and crystallographic orientation of each of the underlying phases impacts the delivered power and energy density. While it is clear that the component with the lowest efficiency will be the bottleneck to performance of the overall device, the understanding of the fundamentals associated to the different electrochemical and chemomechanical interactions of the underlying phases remains unclear. In this paper we will discuss the meso and microstructural limitations associated to porous cathode electrodes, and will outline strategies to tune the response of primary and secondary particle configurations for high power or energy density applications.

Speaker: R. Edwin Garcia, Purdue University