Development of Highly Reliable Secondary Batteries with Interfacial Ion Behaviour Control and Multivalent Ion Adoption – Project 2019R1A2C1009239

Abstract

If the anode-electrolyte interface of lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries or LIBs can be controlled to make the anode of the Li metal battery suitable for liquid or solid electrolytes it would lead to an expansion of possible applications. Assistant Professor Jeeyoung Yoo, School of Energy Engineering, Kyungpook National University, Korea, is experimenting with a layer called the solid electrolyte interphase (SEI). The Li metal anode has characteristics that make it suitable as an anode material for next-generation LIBS, but its SEI is unstable and Yoo wants to address this. To do this, Yoo is applying an interlayer while maintaining an existing structure with a liquid electrolyte, and she and the team have found that carbon with a conjugated structure is the most effective interlayer material. This represents the very first in-situ formation of a semi ionic CF (carbon-fluorine) bonding formation and suggests that the Li metal battery could be stabilised by simply applying a pencil to the separator. Yoo is also working to develop highly reliable secondary batteries with interfacial ion behaviour control and multivalent ion adoption. This research involves developing a part that controls the side reaction between the metal anode and the aqueous electrolyte interface, and a cathode material suitable for the metal anode. The aim of this work is to help improve the stability of the secondary batteries and also lower price and resolve supply issues.