As the world lessens its dependence on fossil fuels, industries and manufacturers are turning to lithium-ion batteries to power the machines that make modern life possible. These batteries power electric vehicles, mobile phones, drones, vacuum cleaning robots and other machines and will be an essential component to the energy transition.
But there’s a problem with lithium-ion batteries: as they age and are charged, they develop dendrites. A research team from the University of Houston is trying to solve the dendrite problem by investigating how these structures grow on batteries. Dendrites are spiky structures that accumulate on the batteries’ anodes. These structures reduce the life of the batteries, hinder their ability to hold a charge and can short-circuit machines potentially causing safety hazards like battery fires.
“By understanding how dendrites grow on batteries, we can identify chemical and physical solutions to prevent the growth of dendrites, which is necessary to develop the next generation of batteries,” said Xiaonan Shan, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering at UH’s Cullen College of Engineering.
Shan and his team have developed a “novel in-situ” 3D microscopy to image and study the localized electrochemical environments and understand where dendrites start forming in batteries. Using the 3D microscope, small cameras and other computer imaging technology, Shan and his team were able to geometrically map out how a battery initially develops dendrites.
The findings were recently published in the journal Advanced Energy Materials.
“This is significant because most battery researchers traditionally use electrochemical measurements to measure the entire surface or interior battery, so they don't know what happens inside the battery,” said Shan, who is a corresponding author on the paper. Electrical and computer engineering graduate student Guangxia Feng is the lead author. Most battery companies focus on the materials part of developing batteries, so new materials emphasize performance, he added.
“With this process, manufacturers can theoretically make better performing batteries by focusing on the structural design of batteries that discourages the growth of dendrites,” Shan noted. "And in the next step, we will use this technique to design highly efficient Zn (zinc-carbon) batteries."
Authors joining Shan and Feng on the paper are Jiaming Guo, Yaping Shi, Xiaoliang, Xu Yang and David Mayerich, all of the UH Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering; and Huajun Tian, Zho Li and Yang Yang, University of Central Florida.
Journal
Advanced Energy Materials
Method of Research
Imaging analysis
Subject of Research
Not applicable
Article Title
Probe the Localized Electrochemical Environment Effects and Electrode Reaction Dynamics for Metal Batteries using In Situ 3D Microscopy
Article Publication Date
16-Dec-2021
COI Statement
Uncontrollable dendrite growth is closely related to non-uniform reaction environments. However, there is a lack of understanding and analysis methods to probe the localized electrochemical environment (LEE). Here the effects of the LEE are investigated, including localized ion concentrations, current density, and electric potential, on metal plating/stripping dynamics and dendrite minimization. A novel in situ 3D microscopy technique is developed to image the morphology dynamics and deposition rate of Zn plating/stripping processes on 3D Zn–Mn anodes. Using the in situ 3D microscope, the electrode morphology changes during the reactions are directly imaged and Zn deposition rate maps at different time points are obtained. It is found that reaction kinetics are highly correlated to LEE and electrode morphology. To further quantify the LEE effects, the digital twin technique is employed that allows the accurate calculation of the electrochemical environments, such as localized ion concentrations, current density, and electric potential, which cannot be directly measured from experiments. It is found that the curvature of the 3D electrode surface determines the LEE and significantly influences reaction kinetics. This provides a new strategy to minimize the dendrite formation by designing and optimizing the 3D geometry of the electrode to control the LEE.