• Energy Research

XAFS investigation of polyamidoxime-bound uranyl reveals an adjacent μ2-oxo-bridged transition metal, suggesting new routes for adsorbent design in radionuclide separations.

In this work, we explore how the chemical reactivity toward an aprotic battery electrolyte changes as a function of lithium salt and silicon surface termination chemistry. The reactions are highly ...

High-energy batteries for automotive applications require cells to endure well over a decade of constant use, making their long-term stability paramount. This is particularly challenging for emerging cell chemistries containing silicon, for which extended testing information is scarce. While much of the research on silicon anodes has focused on mitigating the consequences of volume changes during cycling, comparatively little is known about the time-dependent degradation of silicon-containing batteries. Here we discuss a series of studies on the reactivity of silicon that, collectively, paint a picture of how the chemistry of silicon exacerbates the calendar aging of lithium-ion cells. Assessing and mitigating this shortcoming should be the focus of future research to fully realize the benefits of this battery technology. Silicon-containing batteries are increasingly becoming a reality in the mass market, but their calendar aging behaviours have received comparatively little attention. Researchers from the Silicon Consortium Project discuss the issues surrounding the calendar lifetime of silicon anodes for lithium-ion batteries.

With the use of in situ neutron reflectometry (NR) we show how the addition of an electronically conductive polymeric binder, PEFM, mediates the solid–electrolyte interphase (SEI) formation and composition on an amorphous Si (a-Si) electrode as a function of the state-of-charge.

Abstract Thermal insulation materials are crucial to improve the energy performance of buildings and industrial applications. We report an approach to create hermetically vacuum-sealed silica-based hollow microspheres that can lower the thermal conductivity of closed-cell insulation materials. The wall structure of these hollow microspheres includes a reticulated network of pores or channels that extend through the thickness of the wall. When a thin layer of glass material is applied to the wall exterior, followed by a vacuum-assisted thermal treatment process, the coated microsphere surfaces display a highly dense conformal coverage and near-complete elimination of surface porosity. The sealing efficiency of these microspheres is verified by trapping argon within their cavities as well as through evacuating their hollow cores. Notably, incorporating the evacuated microspheres into a polymer matrix resulted in ∼27% enhancement in its thermal insulation performance and no notable loss of performance was observed following three months of exposure to ambient conditions. Thus, we believe that the present study offers a commercially viable strategy that opens the door to applications of such inorganic hollow particles in areas ranging from vacuum-based thermal insulation systems to catalysis, separation technologies, and medical fields.

The critical roles of Li-salts in lithium batteries, particularly Li–metal, Li–O2, and Li–S batteries, are reviewed.

In this work, we explore the limits of performance and energy density of a non-aqueous redox flow battery under ideal conditions. We compared the performance of an organic redox couple in a symmetric cell to that of a vanadium redox flow cell. Based on cycling performance, we expect that ­– when losses from separators and poor ionic conductivity are minimized – a non-aqueous flow cell operating at 3.5 V should have a 35% higher energy density than V4/5+ couple in aqueous system at 100 mA∙cm-2 current density for a system that could operate at 3.5 V.