Symposium Report. Battery materials : amorphous carbons and polymer electrolytes.
The motivation for research in battery materials lies in the expanding consumer demand for compact, high-energy density power sources for portable electronic devices, and environmental issues such as global warming and air pollution that have provided the impetus for mass transportation by electric vehicles. The Battery Materials Symposium, chaired by Jacqueline Johnson (ANL), focused on three topics: the structure and electrochemical properties of new and existing electrolytes, devices for fabricating and investigating thin films, and large-scale computer simulations. The symposium opened with a presentation by the author on a recently invented device for in situ investigations of batteries using nuclear magnetic resonance. Joop Schoonman (Delft University) described several methods for preparing and analyzing thin films made of solid electrolytes. These methods included chemical vapor deposition, electrostatic spray deposition and the Solufill process. Aiichiro Nakano discussed large-scale (10 million to 2 billion atoms) computer simulations of polymer and ceramic systems. An overview was given of a DOE Cooperative Research 2000 program, in the initial stages, that was set up to pursue these atomistic simulations. Doug MacFarlane (Monash University) described conductive plastic crystals based on pyrrolidinium imides. Joseph Pluth (U of Chicago) presented his recent crystallographic studies of Pb compounds found in the ubiquitous lead-acid battery. He showed the structures of tribasic lead sulfate and tetrabasic lead sulfate. Austen Angell (Arizona State Univ.) discussed the general problem of electrolyte polarization in Li-ion battery systems with cation transference numbers less than unity. Steven Greenbaum (Hunter College) provided an introduction of NMR interactions that are useful for investigations of lithium-ion battery materials. Analysis by NMR is nuclear specific, probes local environments and dynamics, and is non-destructive. He discussed {sup 7}Li NMR results of a solid electrolyte system composed of LiI dissolved in PEO. Work on oriented polymer electrolyte samples is ongoing. Yuri Andreev (U. of St. Andrews) gave a historical overview of a number of crystal structures of polymer electrolytes solved using XRD in the group of Peter Bruce. The last speaker of the symposium was Peter Papanek (U. of Pennsylvania). He spoke about various disordered carbon materials used as anodes in Li-ion batteries. He also described his inelastic neutron scattering studies of carbon materials derived from pyrolyzed epoxy novolak resins. His data supports the graphene sheet model and is also consistent with calculations of interior and edge carbon atoms in pyrene that chemically reacted with lithium.
- Research Organization:
- Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Office of Science (SC)
- DOE Contract Number:
- DE-AC02-06CH11357
- OSTI ID:
- 943060
- Report Number(s):
- ANL/CMT/JA-37182; TRN: US201002%%566
- Journal Information:
- ACA Newsl., Vol. 4, Issue Winter 2000; Conference: 50th American Crystallographic Association; Jul. 22, 2000 - Jul. 27, 2000; St. Paul, MN
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- ENGLISH
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