In this paper, we report that various kinds of active sites on graphite surface including active hydrophilic sites markedly affect the electrochemical performance of graphite anodes for lithium ion batteries under different humidity conditions. After depositing metals such as Ag and Cu by immersing and heat-treating, these active sites on the graphite surface were removed or covered and its electrochemical performance under the high humidity conditions was markedly improved. This suggests that lithium ion batteries can be assembled under less strict conditions and that it provides a valuable direction to lower the manufacturing cost for lithium ion batteries.

The use of lithium-ion batteries is something that is becoming more common in today’s society. They are found in a variety of electronic equipment such as mobile phones, laptops and tools. Several incidents have been reported due to lithium-ion batteries ending up in a state called thermal runaway. This in combination with the increasing demands for environmentally friendly and sustainable energy in the form of e.g. wind turbines and solar panels, can therefore lead to unforeseen consequences. Residual energy from wind or solar power can be stored in an energy storage, often a battery system of several interconnected lithium-ion batteries. In case of an incident in these storages where a large quantity of these batteries is located, there is a risk that an explosion will occur. This further leads to the interest if it’s possible to prevent an explosion with the help of mechanical ventilation.  The purpose of this report has been to investigate the reasons why these batteries are being able to cause an explosion, what gases are emitted in the event of a thermal runaway and how explosive they are. With the results given it’s possible to then perform calculations on ventilation capacity needed to maintain a non-explosive atmosphere. This was carried out through a literature study of currently available research combined with information from various authorities, hand calculations and calculations in Excel.  With the results of the literature study, it can be stated that the battery cell consisting of the cathode material lithium-nickel-manganese-cobalt oxide (NMC) is most reactive. The most common gases emitted from these cells during thermal runaway are hydrogen, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, methane, ethylene and ethane. These gases are also the most common gases during thermal runaway when the battery consists of a different cathode material, but the distribution may look different. All of these gases, with the exception of carbon dioxide, are flammable and can contribute to an explosive atmosphere.  Three different scenarios are developed where thermal runaway is assumed to take place at a battery cell inside battery storages of different sizes: two container-based energy storage and one battery storage for home use located in a garage space. In these respective scenarios, a certain number of cells are assumed to be in thermal runaway. The lower flammability limit for the ventilated gas mixture is determined to 8,53% based on the amount of emitted gas and the distribution of it due to thermal runaway. With the knowledge of the lower flammability limit of the emitted gas mixture, as well as other available data from each scenario, the desired capacity for ventilation is calculated at 0,23 m3/s for the two container-based battery storages and at 0,035 m3/s for the battery storage located in the garage space. If this capacity of the ventilation is present when thermal runaway occurs, it means that the concentration of combustible gases should remain below the lower flammability limit. It is worth noting that these calculations were performed to some extent based on assumptions and may therefore be judged more as approximate rather than exact.  The conclusions drawn by the performed calculations are that mechanical ventilation is a potential alternative to ensure that the atmosphere in a battery storage doesn’t become explosive if a thermal runaway occurs in the battery cells.

The physics of transition metal oxides is controlled by the combination and competition of several degrees of freedom, in particular the charge, the spin and the orbital state of the electrons. One important parameter responsible for the physical properties is the density of charge carriers which determines the oxidization state of the transition metal ions. The central objective in this work is the study of transition metal oxides in which the charge carrier density is adjusted and controlled via lithium intercalation/deintercalation using electrochemical methods. Lithium exchange can be achieved with a high degree of accuracy by electrochemical methods. The magnetic properties of various intermediate compounds are studied. Among the materials under study the mixed valent vanadium-oxide multiwall nanotubes represent a potentially technologically relevant material for lithium-ion batteries. Upon electron doping of VOx-NTs, the data confirm a higher number of magnetic V4+ sites. Interestingly, room temperature ferromagnetism evolves after electrochemical intercalation of Li, making VOx-NTs a novel type of self-assembled nanoscaled ferromagnets. The high temperature ferromagnetism was attributed to formation of nanosize interacting ferromagnetic spin clusters around the intercalated Li ions. This behavior was established by a complex experimental study with three different local spin probe techniques, namely, electron spin resonance (ESR), nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and muon spin relaxation spectroscopies. Sr2CuO2Br2 was another compound studied in this work. The material exhibits CuO4 layers isostructural to the hole-doped high-Tc superconductor La2-xSr2CuO4. Electron doping is realized by Li-intercalation and superconductivity was found below 9K. Electrochemical treatment hence allows the possibility of studying the electronic phase diagram of LixSr2CuO2Br2, a new electron doped superconductor. The effect of electrochemical lithium doping on the magnetic properties was also studied in tunnel-like alpha-MnO2 nanostructures. Upon lithium intercalation, Mn4+ present in alpha-MnO2 will be reduced to Mn3+, resulting in a Mn mixed valency in this compound. The mixed valency and different possible interactions arising between magnetic spins give a complexity to the magnetic properties of doped alpha-MnO2.

<p>Rechargeable lithium ion batteries (LIBs) are widely used in various daily life applications including electronic portable devices, cell phones, military applications, and electric vehicles throughout the world. The demand for building a safer and higher volumetric/gravimetric energy density LIBs has increased exponentially for electronic devices and electric vehicles. With the high energy density and longer cycle life, the LIBs are the most prominent energy storage system for electric vehicles. Researchers are further exploring for new materials with a high specific capacity, the MXene has been a promising new anode material for LIBs. The typical MXene material Ti₃C₂T_z has 447mAh/g theoretical capacity, which is higher than traditional graphite (372 mAh/g for LiC₆) based anode.</p> <p>Though LIBs are used in most of the portable energy storage devices, LIBs are still having thermal runaway safety concern, which is caused by three main reasons: mechanical, electrical, and thermal abuse. The thermal runaway is caused by the initiation of solid electrolyte interface (SEI) degradation above 80 °C on the anode surface, generating exothermic heat, and further increasing battery temperature. The SEI is a thin layer formed on anode due to electrolyte decomposition during first few charging cycles. Its degradation at low temperature generates heat inside the LIBs and triggers the thermal runaway. The thermal runaway follows SEI degradation, electrolyte reactions, polypropylene separator melting, cathode decomposition and finally leads to combustion. The thermal runaway mechanism of graphite, which is the most common and commercialized anode material of LIBs, has been studied for years. However, the thermal safety aspects of the new MXene material has not been investigated yet. </p> <p>In this thesis, we primarily used differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and specially designed multi module calorimetry (MMC) to measure exothermic and endothermic heat generated at <a>Ti₃C₂T_z </a>anode, associated with multiple chemical reactions as the temperature increases. The <i>in-situ</i> MMC technique is employed to study the interactions and chemical reactions of all the components (separator, electrolyte, cathode and MXene anode) in the coin cell for the first time, while the <i>ex-situ</i> DSC is used to investigate the reactions happened on anode side, including electrolyte, PVDF binder, MXene, SEI and intercalated Li. Along with other <a>complementary </a>instruments and methods, the morphological, structural and compositional studies are carried out using X-ray diffraction (XRD), Raman spectroscopy, scanning electron microscope (SEM), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) surface area measurement and electrochemical measurement to support the thermal analysis. The electrochemical and thermal runaway mechanism of conventional graphitic anode is studied and used for comparison with MXeneanodes.</p> <p>The Ti₃C₂T_z thermal runaway is triggered by SEI decomposition around 120 °C analogous to conventional graphite. The thermal behavior of Ti₃C₂T_z anode is highly dependent on electrode material, surface area, lithiation states, surface morphology, structure and surface-terminating functional groups on Ti₃C₂T_z, which provides more active lithium sites for exothermic reactions with the electrolyte. Especially the terminal groups (-OH, -F, =O, etc.) from the etching process affect the lithium ion intercalation and thermal runaway mechanism. With annealing treatment, the surface-terminating functional groups are modified and can achieve less exothermic heat release. By normalizing the total heat generation by specific capacities of the anode materials, it is observed that Ti₃C₂T_z (2.68 J/mAh) generates slightly less exothermic heat than graphite (2.72 J/mAh) indicating slightly safer nature of Ti₃C₂T_z anode. The <i>in-situ</i> thermal analysis results on the Ti₃C₂T_z half-cell exhibited less total heat generation per mass (1.56 kJ/g) compared to graphite (1.59 kJ/g) half-cell. </p><br>

Electrical vehicles have become more popular during recent years due to their reduced greenhouse gas emissions. The research within Li-ion batteries is therefore moving fast. Presently, two-level converters transforming the current from DC to AC. However, an alternative method of power conversion is by utilizing modular multilevel converters, which can perform better harmonics than the two-level converter. This study aims to research the impact of these converters on battery cell heat generation. In doing so, developing a digital twin of the Li-ion battery cell, which in this case is a Samsung 28 Ah nickel, manganese, and cobalt prismatic battery cell, focusing on the thermal aspects such as heat generation, heat capacity, and thermal conductivity. The modular multilevel converter may also cause significant overtones, harmonics. Therefore, this study investigates the thermal impact of these frequencies. The results show that it is possible to, via experiments and simulations, determine the heat capacity and thermal conductivity of a Li-ion cell. Furthermore, the frequencies caused by the modular multilevel converter cause a temperature rise in the cell, compared to the two-level converter. Although, if the same root mean square for the modular multilevel converter current is used, the temperature rise is lower compared to DC. During the load cycles, the results show that there are slightly higher temperatures at the positive current collector side compared to the negative. It is, however, the jelly roll core that has the highest temperatures.

<p>Fast charging is crucial to the proliferation of electric vehicles. Fast charging is limited by lithium plating, which is the deposition of lithium metal on the anode surface instead of intercalation of lithium into the anode. Lithium plating causes capacity fade, increases cell resistance, and presents safety issues. A fast charging strategy was implemented using a battery management system (BMS) that avoided lithium plating by predicting the anode impedance. Commercial pouch cells modified with a reference electrode were cycled with and without the BMS. Cells cycled with the BMS avoided lithium plating but experienced significant degradation at the cathode. Cells cycled without the BMS underwent extensive lithium plating at the anode. Capacity loss was differentiated into irreversible and irretrievable capacity to understand electrode-based degradation mechanisms. Post-mortem analysis on harvested electrodes showed that the BMS cycled cells exhibited minimal anode degradation and had a two-times higher capacity loss on the cathode. The cells cycled without the BMS had extensive anode degradation caused by lithium plating and a seven-times higher capacity loss on the anode. </p> <p> </p> <p>Understanding and preventing the aging mechanisms of lithium-ion batteries is necessary to prolong battery life. Traditional full cell measurements are limited because they cannot differentiate between degradation processes that occur separately on anode and cathode. A reference electrode was inserted into commercial cylindrical lithium-ion cells to deconvolute the anode and cathode performance from the overall cell performance. Two configurations of the reference electrode placement inside the cell were tested to find a location that was stable and had minimal interference on the full cell performance. The reference electrode inside the mandrel of the cylindrical cell had stable potential measurements for 80 cycles and at different C-rates and had minimal impact on the full cell performance.<b></b></p>

Journal articles are the formal medium for the communication of results among scientists, and often contain valuable data. However, manually collecting article data from a large field like lithium-ion battery chemistry is tedious and time consuming, which is an obstacle when searching for statistical trends and correlations to inform research decisions. To address this a platform for the automatic retrieval and analysis of large numbers of articles is created and applied to the field of lithium-ion battery chemistry. Example data produced by the platform is presented and evaluated and sources of error limiting this type of platform are identified, with problems related to text extraction and pattern matching being especially significant. Some solutions to these problems are presented and potential future improvements are proposed.

No description available.

The global energy system is under transformation. The energy transition from a centralized, fossil fuel based energy system to a more decentralized, renewable energy based system will challenge the balancing of electricity supply and demand. This stresses the importance of grid flexibility. In this challenge, energy storage will play a valuable role as it can provide flexibility and support the renewable energy integration. More specifically, lithium-ion battery energy storage systems (Li-ion BESS) demonstrate technological advantages and valuable application possibilities in the electricity grid. This thesis examines opportunities and barriers for deployment of grid-scale Li-ion BESS in the Swedish electricity market, and provides an overview of different perspectives of possibilities with BESS from several market actors. The purpose of the exploratory study is to gain an understanding of prospects for grid-scale BESS in Sweden. Through a comprehensive literature study and an empirical study, based on fourteen interviews with various actors in the electricity market, data was collected and analyzed. The analysis of the empirical findings resulted in two tables summarizing opportunities and barriers for implementation of BESS in Sweden. The opportunities and barriers are categorized into three hierarchical levels; contextual level, power system level and BESS level, referring to where in the system the benefits or hinders are localized. Also, key discussion points related to BESS (such as storage time perspective, ownership, grid services, cost, price signals and knowledge gap) are explored and evaluated. Furthermore, to understand the possibilities for grid-scale BESS in Sweden, a potential business setup for BESS is assessed and analyzed to identify preconditions for BESS to be attractive on the Swedish electricity market. The findings of the thesis indicate that grid flexibility is most likely going to be a considerable issue within 10-20 years. By the time of the potential nuclear phase out in Sweden, there will be major instabilities in the electricity grid if solutions are not in place. Therefore, keys to grid flexibility need to be evaluated and planned for well in advance, and the findings indicate that BESS could be a possible part of the solution. Until now, the regulatory framework has been perceived as rather unclear when it comes to energy storage, which has led to uncertainties among the market actors. These unclarities are about to be clarified with new laws and regulations, which will enable potential businesses for BESS. With the changes in the regulatory framework in place, we see an opportunity with new actors on the market. Our analysis shows that the BESS owner will most likely be a commercial actor, to enable utilization of a BESS for combined applications. An important factor, affecting the possibilities of implementing BESS on the Swedish electricity market, is the cost of BESS. We consider the cost aspect as vital for the likelihood of deploying BESS in Sweden. Based on our main findings, we conclude several preconditions for the deployment of BESS in Sweden. These are; decreased costs of BESS, acceptance from market actors, increased knowledge, a trading platform for grid services provided by a BESS, coordination between markets and electricity load forecasts. We believe that if these preconditions are fulfilled, Li-ion BESS has a chance to affect and have an impact on the Swedish electricity market. / Dagens energisystem är under förändring. Det sker en omvandling där energisystemet går från att vara centraliserat och fossilbaserat till att bli mer decentraliserat och baserat på förnybar energi. Detta kommer att utmana balanseringen av elproduktion och elkonsumtion, vilket betonar vikten av flexibilitet i elnätet. I den stundande utmaningen kommer energilagring att spela en viktig roll eftersom det kan bidra med flexibilitet och samtidigt stödja integrationen av mer förnybar elproduktion. Mer specifikt har energilagersystem med litiumjon-batterier flertalet tekniska fördelar och värdefulla användningsområden i elnätet. Det här examensarbetet utforskar möjligheter och hinder för en framtida implementering av nätanslutna litiumjonbatterilager på den svenska elmarknaden och ger en överblick över perspektiv på utsikter för batterilager från flertalet marknadsaktörer. Syftet med den utforskande studien är att få en ökad förståelse för framtidsutsikterna för storskaliga batterilager i Sverige. Genom en omfattande litteraturstudie och en empirisk studie, baserad på fjorton intervjuer med olika aktörer på elmarknaden, samlades data in och analyserades. Analysen av de empiriska resultaten resulterade i två tabeller som sammanfattar möjligheter och hinder för implementering av batterilager i Sverige. Möjligheterna och hindren kategoriseras i tre hierarkiska nivåer; kontextuell nivå, kraftsystemnivå och batterilagersystemnivå, med hänvisning till var i systemet fördelarna eller barriärerna är lokaliserade. Dessutom utvärderas flera betydande diskussionsteman relaterade till batterilager (såsom lagringstid, ägande, nättjänster, kostnad, prissignaler och kunskapsluckor). För att förstå möjligheterna för att etablera batterilager i Sverige har en möjlig affärsuppställning utvärderats och analyserats. Detta för att identifiera förutsättningar för att batterilager ska vara attraktivt på den svenska elmarknaden. Examensarbetets resultat tyder på att nätflexibilitet sannolikt kommer att bli ett betydande problem inom 10-20 år. Den troliga avvecklingen av den svenska kärnkraften kommer att resultera i instabilitet i elnätet om inte lösningar finns på plats. Därför behöver lösningar för att uppnå flexibilitet i elnätet utvärderas och planeras i god tid och uppsatsens resultat visar på att batterilager kan vara en möjlig del av lösningen. Fram till nu har det funnits oklarheter i regelverket gällande energilagring, vilket har lett till osäkerheter hos marknadsaktörerna. Nya lagar och förordningar kommer att klargöra flertalet osäkerheter och möjliggöra potentiella affärer med batterilager. När det förändrade regelverket är på plats, ser vi potential för nya aktörer på marknaden. Vår analys visar på att batterilager med största sannolikhet kommer att ägas av kommersiella aktörer för att möjliggöra kombinerade användningsområden av batterilager. Möjligheterna till implementering av batterilager på den svenska elmarknaden påverkas i hög grad av kostnaden för batterilager. Vi anser att kostnadsaspekten är avgörande för sannolikheten att utnyttja batterilager i Sverige. Vår slutsats är att det finns flertalet förutsättningar för att batterilager ska bli attraktivt och lönsamt i Sverige. Dessa är; minskade kostnader för batterilager, acceptans från marknadsaktörer, ökad kunskap, en handelsplattform för nättjänster som tillhandahålls av batterilager, samordning mellan marknader samt lastprognoser. Om dessa förutsättningar uppnås anser vi att litiumjon-batterilager har en chans att påverka den svenska elmarknaden.

Over the last few decades, rechargeable lithium-ion batteries have been extensively used in portable instruments due to their high energy density and low self-discharge rate. Recently, lithium-ion batteries have emerged as the most promising candidate for electric vehicles and stationary energy storage. However, the maximum energy that lithium-ion batteries can store decreases as they are used because of various irreversible degradation mechanisms. Lithium-ion batteries are complex systems to understand, and various processes and their interactions are responsible for the degradation over time. The mechanical integrity and stability of the electrode layers inside the battery highly influence the battery performance, which makes it a necessity to characterize the mechanical behavior of electrode active layers for mesoscopic and macroscopic level modeling. In papers 1 and 2, the macroscopic mechanical behavior of active layers in the electrodes is investigated using U-shape bending tests. The active layers are porous and a different tensile and compressive behavior is captured by performing tests on single side coated dry specimens. The experiments reveal that the active layer is stiffer in compression as compared to tension. The compressive stiffness increases with bending strain whereas the tensile stiffness is almost independent of the bending strain. A very low value of modulus of the active layer (1-5 GPa) is measured in comparison to the metal foils (70-110 GPa) and the active particles (50-200 GPa) which shows that the electrode properties are governed majorly by the binders present in the active layers.  The time-dependent and hysteresis effects are also captured by the method which circumvents the flaws of many other test methods presented in the literature.   In paper 3, we present a multiscale homogenization method that couples mechanics and electrochemistry at the particle, electrode, and battery scales. The active materials of lithium-ion battery electrodes exhibit volume change during lithium intercalation or deintercalation. A lithium concentration gradient develops inside particles, as well as inside the active layer. The developed stress due to deformations further affects solid diffusion.  We utilized models that have already been developed to couple particle and electrode layer levels. The mechanical coupling between the electrode and the battery level is achieved by homogenization of the layered battery using three-dimensional laminate theory.  By application of the model, we demonstrate that the stresses on all considered scales can be predicted from the homogenized model. It is furthermore demonstrated that the effects of external battery loadings like battery stacks, casings, and external pressure can be captured by the model. The model can also capture the effect of various electrochemical cycling rates and mechanical parameters like layer thicknesses, stiffnesses, and swelling properties. The presented multi-scale model is fast, accurate and the efficiency of the method is demonstrated by comparisons to detailed finite element computations where each layer is individually modeled.