Grant: Research Tools and Instruments

Solid-state electrochemistry research is concerned with the relationship between the structure of a material and its electrochemical properties. In our lab, we target our properties towards ion and electron transport in solids. Aside from having fundamental interest in their study, these are also critical properties for the development of new lithium-ion battery electrode and solid state electrolyte materials which form the major part of our research. Materials under study include lithium metal oxides, sulfides, chlorides and inorganic/organic polymer composites. Developing new materials requires that the structure and composition of the material be fully characterized; for this we need to use a suite of physical and analytical techniques, of which the combination of differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA) plays an absolutely pivotal role. We use gravimetric and differential scanning calorimetry thermal analysis methods routinely to determine the composition of our solids; the former involves heating the material to measure mass losses and/or gains that are incurred as a result of change of composition. These changes can involve loss or gain of elements (oxygen, halide, etc) from the structure, and/or loss of water, and organic components. Structural changes that occur without mass change are observed as thermal events in the differential calorimeter, which proceed with heat gain or loss measured with respect to a reference. This is used to determine where a combination of precursors or an amorphous material crystallizes (so that the correct protocol can be established in a furnace) and/or to evaluate the thermal stability of a material. DSC technology also measures the energy exchange between the material under analysis and its environment, which is a very useful thermodynamic value that can be converted to enthalpy values to help determine the properties of the new material of interest. In summary, funds are requested to acquire a simultaneous differential scanning calorimeter/thermal gravimetric analysis apparatus to give us a crucial analytical tool for materials characterization for energy storage (aka battery) materials.