Grant: Discovery Grants Program - Individual

With the rise of global temperatures, the transition of the energy economy from a fossil fuels basis to renewable energy sources is becoming increasingly urgent. Fossil fuels are convenient, because they can be easily transported, and converted to the required form of energy locally and immediately. Renewable energy sources, on the other hand, produce electricity when the sun is shining or the wind is blowing, without regard for consumer requirements. Moreover, high-power renewable energy is hardly mobile. Cheap rechargeable batteries can help by storing energy in definable small packages, and store and release energy as required by the consumer. In this way, they make renewable energy accessible for mobile applications (e.g. electric cars) and increase the implementable renewable energy portion in existing electric grids. However, at the moment, rechargeable batteries are still quite expensive, which raises the price of renewable energy implementation. The technology of choice, Li-ion batteries, are commonly fabricated with materials that include Lithium, Cobalt and Nickel, which are expensive metals. Li-ion battery fabrication is further a costly process that has to be performed under completely dry and clean atmosphere and it uses expensive and environmentally hazardous organic solvents. The proposed research program targets battery cost, performance and sustainability by exploring new materials that can aid the full utilization of energy-storing active materials. Within the current funding period, my team and I will explore binders that are electronically conducting and good adhesives in typical Li- and Na-ion batteries. These binders serve to hold active material particles together, and connect them electronically to the current collector. The proposed research will design and investigate electronically conducting binders, explore their application in Li-ion and Na-ion batteries, and illustrate the microscopic mechanisms by which electronically conducting binders improve the performance of batteries. In doing so, the program will support the training of 3 MSc and 2 PhD students. The outcome will impact battery cost, performance and sustainability in several ways. Firstly, these binders are designed to be water processable. By overcoming the use of costly, toxic organic solvents, this reduces processing costs and environmental impact. Secondly, they will make large capacity materials accessible by accommodating larger volume changes of the charge-storing material. This increases charge storage capacity of the battery. Finally, the proposed binders can help the realization of the much cheaper Na-ion battery technology. Beyond the current funding cycle, this knowledge will be applied to alternative battery chemistries that have the potential to hugely improve battery performance, but currently suffer from low cycle life.