Rechargeable Zn-Based Batteries for Large Scale Energy Storage: Operando Imaging, Material Designing and Device Engineering
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Wu, Yutong
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Abstract
Energy storage technologies have the potential to change the energy infrastructure from relying heavily on fossil fuels to mostly using temporally intermittent renewable energy sources. Lithium-ion battery is the dominant energy storage solution for portable electronics, but have safety concerns stemming from flammable organic electrolytes, which is more severe when batteries are scaled up for applications in electric vehicles and utilities. And due to the stacked powder-film-on-current-collector geometry, lithium-ion batteries have limitations in scalability and maintainability. Batteries using aqueous electrolyte (e.g. Zn-air) are intrinsically safe, and flow batteries (e.g. Zn-Br) are attractive choice for large scale energy storage. However, these two technologies (Zn-air and Zn-Br) have problems such as rechargeability, self-discharge, and power density.
This research identifies the limiting factors of both portable and large-scale batteries, especially zinc-based ones, and innovate at the material and device levels to overcome these limitations. Specifically, Section 1 introduces the background and motivation of this research. Section 2 identifies the root cause for irreversible electrochemical reaction of Zn anode, namely passivation and dissolution, and leverage nanoscale materials design to address these problems. Section 3 develops an in situ visualization platform for studying Br electrochemistry in Zn-Br batteries. Phenomena such as phase separated Br2 formation, self-discharge, and phase change of Br2 product will be imaged, to bridge the gap between electrolyte composition and electrochemical performance. Section 4 uses a hollow fiber based flow battery geometry design to significantly enhance the volumetric power density. The device is universal, scalable, and not limited to electrolyte types. Section 5 provides a conclusion to this research and provides future directions.
The outcomes of this research (e.g. in operando imaging platform, design principle of reversible metal anode, high power density electrochemical reactor) provides insights for portable scale and grid scale energy storages and other electrochemical flow devices.
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2020-11-19
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Dissertation