Thin film solid electrolyte batteries

该项目是锂离子电池固态电解质（SSE）沉积和表征新活动的一部分，并将受益于与法拉第研究所SOLBAT项目（https：//www.solbat-faraday.org/）的密切互动。该项目将探索通过溅射和脉冲激光沉积（PLD）生长有前途的电解质材料薄膜的可靠方法。研究材料的选择将由SOLBAT合作的其他项目提供信息，并将包括石榴石结构的氧化物和可能的硫化物，以及其他新发现的新材料。可以改变宽范围的参数（衬底温度、气相压力、激光/溅射功率和组成）以优化离子电导率和确保膜均匀性的关键且难以控制的问题。这些性能将首先通过常规电化学阻抗谱（EIS）测量，XRD相纯度，SEM微观结构分析和均匀性进行测量。非晶薄膜材料的性质也将被探索，因为最近有证据表明，这些材料可以具有令人惊讶的良好的离子导电性。PLD工艺是这项工作的理想选择，通过改变沉积参数可以很容易地对结晶度进行高度控制。这些无定形电解质还可以提供有趣的机会来管理所有种类的SSE电池设计中的Li枝晶生长的严重问题。一旦建立了可重复的生长过程，该项目的第二阶段将是研究控制完整电池性能的电解质/电极相互作用。所采用的方法将是顺序沉积的电极和电解质材料，和电子显微镜和二次离子质谱（SIMS）技术，研究化学和形态学的相互作用后，热处理，后来，对称结构的电流循环。还将探索使用金刚石光源对多层样品和完整电池结构进行原位和操作中实验。该项目的总体目标是为SOLBAT项目提供一条基于薄膜战略的原型电池制造路线。目前在英国还没有关于薄膜电解质的工作，在国际上也很少发表，而且根本没有关于这些材料中的界面反应和降解机制的工作，因此所提出的研究方法具有高度的新颖性。学生将与SOLBAT团队的其他成员密切合作，在牛津大学和合作伙伴大学，因此获得与互补的电化学和机械测量技术的宝贵经验。该项目福尔斯属于EPSRC能源主题中的储能研究领域。

This project is part of a new activity on the deposition and characterisation of solid state electrolytes (SSE) in Li-ion batteries, and will benefit from close interaction with the SOLBAT project of the Faraday Institution (https://www.solbat-faraday.org/). The project will explore reliable methods for the growth of thin films of promising electrolyte materials by sputtering and pulsed laser deposition (PLD). The choice of materials to study will be informed by other projects in the SOLBAT collaboration, and will include oxides with the garnet structure and possibly sulphides, and other novel materials as they are discovered. A wide range of parameters (substrate temperature, gas phase pressure, laser/sputter power and composition) can be varied to optimise the ionic conductivity and the critical, and hard to control, problem of ensuring film uniformity. These properties will be measured initially by routine electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) measurements, phase purity by XRD, and microstructural analysis and uniformity by SEM. The properties of amorphous thin film materials will also be explored since there is very recent evidence that these can have surprisingly good ionic conductivities. PLD processes are ideal for this work, with a very high degree of control over the degree of crystallinity being readily provided by changing deposition parameters. These amorphous electrolytes may also offer interesting opportunities to manage the serious problem of Li dendrite growth in all kinds of SSE battery designs. Once reproducible growth processes have been established, a second stage of the project will be to study the electrolyte/electrode interactions that control the performance of complete batteries. The methodology employed will be the sequential deposition of electrode and electrolyte materials, and electron microscopy and secondary ion mass spectroscopy (SIMS) techniques to study chemical and morphological interactions after heat treatments, and later on, after current cycling of symmetric structures. In-situ and in-operando experiments on multi-layered samples and complete battery structures using the Diamond light Source will also be explored. The overall aim of the project is to offer to the SOLBAT project a route to prototype battery manufacture based on a thin film strategy. There is no current work in the UK, and very little published internationally, on thin film electrolytes, and none at all on interfacial reactions and degradation mechanisms in these materials, and so the proposed research methodology has a high degree of novelty. The student will work closely with other members of the SOLBAT team, in Oxford and in partner universities, and so gain valuable experience with complementary electrochemistry and mechanical measurement techniques. This project falls within the EPSRC Energy Storage research area in the Energy Theme.