Transport kinetics in battery electrodes

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Guido Schmitz
• Subject Area: Synthesis and Properties of Functional Materials
• Term: since 2022
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 492318587

Based on in-situ optical microscopic imaging, the ionic transport shall be investigated in thin film battery electrodes. The first goal is the measurement of volume diffusion kinetics in dependence on composition and temperature in two oxides with a high potential to application (Li4Ti5O12, LiMn2O4). Beside this base quantification of the diffusion coefficients and activation energies as volume properties of the materials, a particular focus is set on the transport through and along inner interfaces. Potential transport barriers at interphases or the fast transport along short cirucuit paths should be discovered, proven and and quantified. The dependence of interfacial transport coefficients on the local composition and temperature shall be checked and explained with the help of Monte-Carlo and kinetic mean field simulations. The potential effect of grain boundaries should be determined and quantified via the comparison of different polycrystalline microstructures.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants