Understanding the surfaces of fast charging battery materials: SURF-FAST

在Nyobolt，我们正在致力于创造一种可用于电动汽车和消费品应用的超快充电锂离子电池，通过缩短充电周期来最大限度地减少停机时间，并重新定义客户对我们可以在哪里以及如何使用电池的期望。Nyobolt的超快充电技术由剑桥大学开发，使用NbW氧化物(NWO)作为电池负极材料。传统的锂离子材料通常含有石墨或钛酸锂(LTO)作为阳极，存在安全和性能问题，后者的部分原因是它们在整个材料中的锂离子运动固有的缓慢。相比之下，NWO使锂离子能够在其结构中快速移动--离子扩散系数比LTO高出几个数量级。这是它们能够用于电池的更快充电和更高功率的关键。更重要的是，这些高离子迁移率可以在没有纳米尺寸的情况下实现。这对可持续性有重大影响--我们可以避免纳米颗粒的复杂性和成本，而不会影响性能。Clare Grey教授和Sai Shivareddy博士于2019年创立了Nyobolt Limited，将这一英国IP推向市场，为客户提供快速充电解决方案。在电池中，这些阳极(本身是一种复合材料)将与典型的阴极配对，并与浸泡在电解液中的隔膜相结合。所有这些组件的相互作用以及由此产生的各种表面的变化可能会对电池在运行期间的性能产生重大影响。化学和循环条件的微小变化可能会对关键性能指标产生重大影响，如寿命、比性能和容量保持率。这个项目试图利用国家物理实验室的技术来研究表面的这些变化，这些技术提供了足够的灵敏度和补充信息(例如SIMS，拉曼，XPS)，这些信息目前在Nyobol的常规研发工作计划中是无法获得的。通过了解表面，我们可以通过在循环过程中改变电池的化学或电化学条件来定制解决方案，以提高性能，创造出更好的产品，以超越当前最先进的技术。更好的快速充电电池可以使电动汽车在英国得到更广泛、更快的采用，实现更广泛的电气化，并为英国的净零战略做出贡献。

At Nyobolt, we are working on creating an ultra-fast charging lithium-ion battery that can be used in both electric vehicles and consumer goods applications, minimizing downtime by shortening the recharging period, and reframing customer's expectations about where and how we can use batteries.Developed at the University of Cambridge, Nyobolt's ultra-fast charging technology uses niobium tungsten oxides (NWO) as battery anode materials. Conventional lithium-ion materials typically contain graphite or lithium titanate (LTO) as anodes and suffer from both safety and performance issues, the latter due in part to their inherently slow lithium ion movement throughout the material. In contrast, NWOs enable lithium ions to move rapidly though their structures - with ion diffusion coefficients that are several orders of magnitude higher than those in e.g., LTO. This is the key to their ability to be used for a quicker charge and higher power in a battery. What's more, these high ion mobilities can be achieved without nanosizing. This has a significant impact on sustainability - we can avoid the complexity and cost of nanoparticles without compromising on the performance. Prof. Clare Grey and Dr Sai Shivareddy founded Nyobolt Limited in 2019 to bring this UK IP to market and offer a fast-charging solution to customers.In a battery cell, these anodes (which are themselves a composite material) will be paired with a typical cathode electrode and combined with a separator soaked in an electrolyte solution. The interaction of all these components and the resulting changes to the various surfaces present can have a significant impact on the performance of the battery during its operation. Small changes in the chemistry and cycling conditions can have a big influence on key performance indicators, such as lifetime, rate-performance, and capacity retention. These will also impact the overall safety of the cell.This project seeks to study these changes to the surface using techniques at the National Physical Laboratory which provide both sufficient sensitivity and complementary information (e.g. SIMS, Raman, XPS), which are not currently readily available in routine R&D work programs at Nyobolt.By understanding the surface, we can tailor solutions by changing the battery chemistry or electrochemical conditions during cycling to target improved performance, creating a better product to out-compete current state-of-the-art technology. A better fast-charging battery can enable the wider and faster adoption of electric vehicles in UK and electrification more generally and contribute to the UK's net-zero strategy.