Revealing the Inside of a Nanoscale Na-ion Battery: New Understanding on Sodium Intercalation in Cathodes

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The research objective of this grant is to advance the understanding of the underlying mechanisms that are active in Na-ion reactions in electrodes and chemically-induced failure and fracture in Na-ion batteries. For this purpose, the cathode electrode will be subjected to electrochemical probing inside a transmission electron microscope (TEM) where the microstructure of electrodes can be simultaneously monitored in high resolution. Room-temperature rechargeable Na-ion batteries can be competitive to Li-ion batteries due to their lower cost and the widespread availability of the sodium resources. While tremendous research is focused on Li-ion batteries worldwide, scientific challenges associated with room-temperature rechargeable sodium-ion batteries have been relatively unexplored. This is of prime importance considering that Li resources are very limited and their price has increased continuously during the past 20 years. The challenges of Na-ion batteries are much more complicated than the Li-ion case, as Na-ions are larger than Li-ions by 70%, which induces large mechanical stresses upon driving the Na-ions into the host electrode. The entry of sodium into the electrodes triggers complicated chemical reactions and failures that are poorly understood, and the battery life is reduced drastically.An important challenge in the broad use of Na-ion batteries is the very low cycling stability in service conditions. Through this grant, the PI will investigate several unresolved scientific challenges in new cathode materials which, if successfully resolved, could enable the commercialization of long lasting rechargeable Na-ion battery technologies. Several venues for integrating research with undergraduate education and outreach activities are proposed. Female and minority students for undergraduate education will be exposed to this research project through simple introductions to the battery subject. Other outreach activities are also planned for local high school female and underrepresented students. Real time videos of microscopy experiments will be produced and made available to the community via YouTube© and selected scientific networks.