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Improving the production of batteries for electric vehicles

2022/09/072022/09/15

A research lead by the company BASF has characterized a new methodology to produce nickel-rich cathode materials used in lithium-ion batteries that optimizes the conventional production process. The proposed model leads to an increase in throughput by a factor of three, representing a considerable increase in the efficiency of future cathode active materials production for battery electric vehicles. The contributions of the MSPD beamline at ALBA have been key in these findings.

Batteries of electric vehicles still have not reached full cost competitiveness with respect to cars powered by combustion engines. This is mainly due to the increase in the cost of the raw materials used to produce the cathode of the batteries. In the search for low-cost materials for cathodes, the research on efficient manufacturing is of utmost importance.

A research led by the company BASF, in collaboration with different German universities and research centers, has studied how to optimize the conventional production process of nickel-rich cathode materials for lithium-ion batteries. This process is a thermal treatment called calcination. More specifically, researchers wanted to obtain a deeper understanding of the lithiation mechanism itself. And also, whether a two-stage calcination process, including a partial-lithiation step, can be used to synthesize cathode active materials with similar properties to those of a conventional one-stage calcination protocol.

The proposed calcination concept leads to an increase in throughput by a factor of three, increasing the efficiency of future cathode active materials production without modifying their physico-chemical properties and electrochemical behavior. Moreover, further advantages of the partial-lithiation process regarding homogeneity of the composition and crystallite size of the cathode active materials are believed to come into view as soon as large-scale sample amounts are investigated, which will be part of future work.

To further characterize the samples after the partial-lithiation step, synchrotron X-ray powder diffraction (XRD) measurements were performed at the MSPD beamline of the ALBA Synchrotron. This is the first report on the composition of the lithium-containing residual needles, which are indicative of an incomplete reaction. By combination of XRD, and other characterization techniques, the presence of Lithium hydroxide was confirmed in the samples prepared with the conventional method but not on the samples obtained with the novel two-stage methodology.

Read more on the ALBA website

X-rays capture ageing process in EV batteries

2022/04/052022/04/07

CLS researcher Toby Bond uses x-rays to help engineer powerful electric vehicle batteries with longer lifetimes. His research, published in The Journal of the Electrochemical Society, shows how the charge/discharge cycles of batteries cause physical damage eventually leading to reduced energy storage. This new work points to a link between cracks that form in the battery material and depletion of vital liquids that carry charge.

Bond uses the BMIT facility at the Canadian Light Source at the University of Saskatchewan to produce detailed CT scans of the inside of batteries. Working with Dr. Jeff Dahn at Dalhousie University, he specializes in batteries for electric vehicles, where the research imperative is to pack in as much energy as possible into a lightweight device.

“A big drawback to packing in more energy is that generally, the more energy you pack in, the faster the battery will degrade,” says Bond.

In lithium-ion batteries, this is because charging physically forces lithium ions between other atoms in the electrode material, pushing them apart. Adding more charge causes more growth in the materials, which shrink back down when the lithium ions leave. Over many cycles of this growing and shrinking, micro-cracks begin to form in the material, slowly reducing its ability to hold a charge.

Read more on the CLS website

Image: Toby Bond adjusts a battery sample on the BMIT beamline

Advances in understanding superconducting material

2022/03/152022/03/24

Superconductivity has the potential to revolutionize technology, whether in lossless power transmission, more efficient electric motors and other applications. Recently these investigations have gained a new ally: Sirius

Imagine a future with batteries that don’t need charging, electric cars at more affordable prices, highly efficient electric motors and cheaper electricity due to ease in their transmission and storage. Gaining a deeper knowledge of the phenomenon of superconductivity is the key to this true technological revolution, which would have a potential impact on all types of electrical equipment.

This is because superconductivity is the property that allows certain materials to conduct electrical current without resistance and therefore without loss of energy. In Brazil, about 7.5% of electricity is lost in transmission and distribution, since the materials of these systems dissipate part of the energy, for example, in the form of heat. Also electric cars, even though they are much more efficient than ordinary combustion-powered cars, still lose up to 15% of the energy when charging batteries.

In view of the importance of this field, the National Center for Research in Energy and Materials (CNPEM), an organization supervised by the Ministry of Science, Technology of Innovations (MCTI), has been actively working to advance the understanding of the phenomenon of superconductivity. One of the research fronts in this area seeks to develop new tools for the experimental study of the physical phenomenon of superconductivity with the aid of superpotent X-rays generated by Sirius.

Read more on the Sirius website

Image: The Ema light line is one of the most advanced scientific tools for experiments seeking solutions for technologies involving superconductivity

Scientists probe the chemistry of a single battery electrode particle both inside and out

2020/09/082020/09/17

The results show how a particle’s surface and interior influence each other, an important thing to know when developing more robust batteries.

The particles that make up lithium-ion battery electrodes are microscopic but mighty: They determine how much charge the battery can store, how fast it charges and discharges and how it holds up over time – all crucial for high performance in an electric vehicle or electronic device.

Cracks and chemical reactions on a particle’s surface can degrade performance, and the whole particle’s ability to absorb and release lithium ions also changes over time. Scientists have studied both, but until now they had never looked at both the surface and the interior of an individual particle to see how what happens in one affects the other.

Read more on the SSRL (SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory) website

Image: Images made with an X-ray microscope show particles within a nickel-rich layered oxide battery electrode (left). In a SLAC study, scientists welded a single charged particle to the tip of a tungsten needle (right) so they could probe its surface and interior with two X-ray instruments. The particle is about the size of a red blood cell. (S. Li et al., Nature Communications, 2020)

How a new electrocatalyst enables ultrafast reactions

2020/03/232020/04/14

The work provides rational guidance for the development of better electrocatalysts for applications such as hydrogen-fuel production and long-range batteries for electric vehicles.

The oxygen evolution reaction (OER) is the electrochemical mechanism at the heart of many processes relevant to energy storage and conversion, including the splitting of water to generate hydrogen fuel and the operation of proposed long-range batteries for electric vehicles. Because the OER rate is a limiting factor in such processes, highly active OER electrocatalysts with long-term stability are being sought to increase reaction rates, reduce energy losses, and improve cycling stability. Catalysts incorporating rare and expensive materials such as iridium and ruthenium exhibit good performance, but an easily prepared, efficient, and durable OER catalyst based on earth-abundant elements is still needed for large-scale applications.

Key insight: shorter O-O bonds
In an earlier study, a group led by John Goodenough (2019 Nobel laureate in chemistry) measured the OER activities of two compounds with similar structures: CaCoO₃ and SrCoO₃. They found that the CaCoO₃ exhibited higher OER activity, which they attributed to its shorter oxygen–oxygen (O-O) bonds. Inspired by this, members of the Goodenough group have now analyzed a metallic layered oxide, Na_0.67CoO₂, which has an even more compact structure than CaCoO₃. X-ray diffraction (XRD) experiments performed at the Advanced Photon Source (APS) confirmed that the shortest O-O separation in Na_0.67CoO₂ is 2.30 Å, compared to 2.64 Å for CaCoO₃. The researchers then compared the OER performance of Na_0.67CoO₂ with IrO₂, Co₃O₄, and Co(OH)₂. They found that Na_0.67CoO₂ exhibited the highest current density, the lowest overpotential (a measure of thermodynamic energy loss), and the most favorable Tafel slope (sensitivity of the electric current to applied potential). The Na_0.67CoO₂ also showed excellent stability under typical operating conditions.

Image: (extract, full image here) A new electrocatalyst prepared for this study, Na_0.67CoO₂, consists of two-dimensional CoO₂ layers separated by Na layers (not shown). The Co ions (blue spheres) have four different positions (Co1-Co4), and the distorted Co–O octahedra have varying oxygen–oxygen (O-O) separations (thick red lines connecting red spheres). All of the O-O bonds are shorter than 2.64 Å (the length of the corresponding bonds in a comparable material), and the shortest bonds are less than 2.40 Å. It turns out that O-O separation has a strong effect on the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) in this material.

The role of synthesis gas in tomorrow’s sustainable fuels

2020/02/062020/02/24

In a new publication in Nature Communications, a team from the Dutch company Syngaschem BV and the Dutch Institute for Fundamental Energy Research elucidates for the first time some aspects of the Fischer-Tropsch reaction, used for converting synthesis gas into synthetic fuels.

Analysis performed at HIPPIE beamline at MAX IV were instrumental to achieve these results. The adoption of sustainable and renewable energy sources to permanently move beyond the dependence from fossil fuels constitutes one of the great challenges of our time. One that is made more urgent by the effects of climate change we witness on a daily basis. Electrification, such as we see in the development of electric vehicles, seems a promising strategy, but it cannot be the solution for all applications. In many cases liquid fuels are still considered the best and most efficient option. Is there a way to produce liquid fuels in an efficient and sustainable manner, one that does not rely on fossil sources?

>Read more on the MAX IV website

Toward better motors with X-ray light

2020/02/032020/02/10

Making Switzerland’s road traffic fit for the future calls for research, first and foremost. In the large-scale research facilities of PSI, chemists and engineers are investigating how to improve the efficiency of motors and reduce their emissions.

“The overall transportation system of Switzerland in 2040 is efficient in all aspects.” The primary strategic goal of the Federal Department of the Environment, Transport, Energy and Communications (DETEC) sounds good. The subordinate Swiss Federal Office of Energy (SFOE) specifies that vehicular traffic should pollute the environment less and become more energy-efficient and climate-friendly. Switzerland has set an ambitious goal for itself: to be climate-neutral by 2050.
This is a major challenge. According to the most recent “microcensus” on mobility from 2015, every person living in Switzerland travels around 24,850 kilometres per year. A high number, which also includes trips abroad. In everyday life and within Switzerland, the average per person is nearly 37 kilometres per day – and rising.
According to the Federal Office for the Environment (FOEN), cars, trucks, and buses produce three-fourths of the greenhouse gas emissions in the transportation sector. From this it follows: Whether or not the nation achieves its goal depends heavily on the motors used in these modes of transportation. Their CO2 emissions must be radically reduced. This is precisely the starting point for researchers at PSI and other institutions.

Image: Passenger cars powered by hydrogen fuel cells have a greater range than electric cars, but they are less efficient. PSI researchers want to change that.
Credit: Adobe Stock/Graphic: Stefan Schulze-Henrichs