Simulations of 3D nanoscale architectures and electrolyte characteristics for Li-ion microbatteries

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Date
2019-03-07
Authors
Clancy, Tomás M.
Rohan, James F.
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Elsevier
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Abstract
Finite element simulations are presented, showing material utilisation and electrochemical cell behaviour of a rechargeable Li-ion microbattery in planar thin-film, 3D and 3D core core-shell nanoarchitectures in which the active material is 250 nm thick as a shell on a 250 nm diameter core support. The materials simulated are non-porous additive-free LiCoO2, lithium metal and solid-state, polymer, polymer-gel and liquid electrolytes. The concentration profile of the LiCoO2 during discharge and areal energy versus areal power in a Ragone plot for each of the different architectures are compared. It is shown that the planar thin-film architecture gave better cell performance when used with the solid-state electrolyte with all three architectures showing material utilisation of the cathode at the closest point to the anode. The 3D and 3D core-shell nanoarchitectures show better battery performance for the polymer electrolyte then the planar thin film, with the 3D nanoarchitecture being the best. The 3D core-shell architecture shows a significant improvement in performance by comparison with the thin-film and 3D nanoarchitectures when a polymer-gel or a liquid electrolyte are used. The 3D nanoarchitecture shows a slight decline in performance when going from a polymer-gel electrolyte to a liquid electrolyte with faster Li-ion transport. The 3D core-shell nanoarchitecture shows improved cell performance with faster Li-ion transport. The adoption of 3D nanoarchitectures with suitable electrolytes can have a significant improvement in battery areal energy and power performance.
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Keywords
Finite element simulations , Planar thin-film microbattery , 3D nanoarchitectures , Ionic conductivity
Citation
Clancy, T. M. and Rohan, J. F. (2019) 'Simulations of 3D nanoscale architectures and electrolyte characteristics for Li-ion microbatteries', Journal of Energy Storage, 23, pp. 1-8. doi: 10.1016/j.est.2019.02.002