Understanding degradation in lithium-ion and lithium-air batteries

With a global transition towards electrification, there is considerable interest in the development of high energy density battery technologies. The current world leading battery chemistries, that are enabling the mass market electrification of transport, are high-nickel positive electrodes. However...

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Main Author: McNulty, Rory
Format: Thesis (University of Nottingham only)
Language:English
Published: 2023
Subjects:
Online Access:https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/73963/
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author McNulty, Rory
author_facet McNulty, Rory
author_sort McNulty, Rory
building Nottingham Research Data Repository
collection Online Access
description With a global transition towards electrification, there is considerable interest in the development of high energy density battery technologies. The current world leading battery chemistries, that are enabling the mass market electrification of transport, are high-nickel positive electrodes. However, as positive electrode nickel-content increases, so too does the reactivity of the positive electrode surface with the electrolyte species, limiting the long-term performance of these cell chemistries. The purpose of the first half of this thesis is to identify failure mechanisms and understand the feasibility of vinylene carbonate formation in cells containing a NMC811 electrode, with the objective of proposing actionable solutions to overcome current inefficiencies hindering research progress. To enable the electrification of next-generation applications, technologies that far exceed the possible performance of traditional lithium-ion batteries are required. The latter half of this thesis examines the degradation of the lithium-air battery, a technology with a theoretical specific capacity ten times greater than traditional lithium-ion. The purpose of this work was to understand the role of H2O, and the hydroperoxide species that are introduced by its presence, in chemical and electrochemical degradation reactions. Here hydroperoxide species are directly identified as playing an antagonistic role in the chemical degradation of acetonitrile, and in the electrochemical formation of lithium hydroxide, the mechanism of which is conclusively identified for the first time.
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spelling nottingham-739632025-07-26T04:30:10Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/73963/ Understanding degradation in lithium-ion and lithium-air batteries McNulty, Rory With a global transition towards electrification, there is considerable interest in the development of high energy density battery technologies. The current world leading battery chemistries, that are enabling the mass market electrification of transport, are high-nickel positive electrodes. However, as positive electrode nickel-content increases, so too does the reactivity of the positive electrode surface with the electrolyte species, limiting the long-term performance of these cell chemistries. The purpose of the first half of this thesis is to identify failure mechanisms and understand the feasibility of vinylene carbonate formation in cells containing a NMC811 electrode, with the objective of proposing actionable solutions to overcome current inefficiencies hindering research progress. To enable the electrification of next-generation applications, technologies that far exceed the possible performance of traditional lithium-ion batteries are required. The latter half of this thesis examines the degradation of the lithium-air battery, a technology with a theoretical specific capacity ten times greater than traditional lithium-ion. The purpose of this work was to understand the role of H2O, and the hydroperoxide species that are introduced by its presence, in chemical and electrochemical degradation reactions. Here hydroperoxide species are directly identified as playing an antagonistic role in the chemical degradation of acetonitrile, and in the electrochemical formation of lithium hydroxide, the mechanism of which is conclusively identified for the first time. 2023-07-26 Thesis (University of Nottingham only) NonPeerReviewed application/pdf en cc_by https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/73963/1/RoryMcNulty_RevisedThesis.pdf McNulty, Rory (2023) Understanding degradation in lithium-ion and lithium-air batteries. PhD thesis, University of Nottingham. Batteries Energy Electrolyte degradation Lithium-ion Lithium-air Electrochemistry Materials Chemistry
spellingShingle Batteries
Energy
Electrolyte degradation
Lithium-ion
Lithium-air
Electrochemistry
Materials Chemistry
McNulty, Rory
Understanding degradation in lithium-ion and lithium-air batteries
title Understanding degradation in lithium-ion and lithium-air batteries
title_full Understanding degradation in lithium-ion and lithium-air batteries
title_fullStr Understanding degradation in lithium-ion and lithium-air batteries
title_full_unstemmed Understanding degradation in lithium-ion and lithium-air batteries
title_short Understanding degradation in lithium-ion and lithium-air batteries
title_sort understanding degradation in lithium-ion and lithium-air batteries
topic Batteries
Energy
Electrolyte degradation
Lithium-ion
Lithium-air
Electrochemistry
Materials Chemistry
url https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/73963/