Anode and solid electrolyte interface engineering

In our project, we plan to improve the interfacial properties between metallic Li anodes and garnet-based Li7La3Zr2O12 (LLZ) electrolyte. The approach is to use coating techniques such as chemical and physical vapor deposition (CVD/PVD), and atomic layer deposition (ALD) to deposit a thin protection layer on a dense LLZ separator which is co-sintered with a composite cathode. These composite cathodes have already shown to be suitable to obtain high areal capacity over 4 mAh cm-2. By using a metallic Li anode, we expect to increase the areal capacity further. In addition the often observed Li dendrite formation might be suppressed due to the coating layer as the Li plating is more homogenous. The screening of various coating layers will allow us to select the most suitable material. Analysis of the cycling behavior, combined with structural analysis will enable us to understand the mechanisms and the interfacial reactions during cycling between anode and solid electrolyte in more detail. This is beneficial for future design of the anode/solid electrolyte interface.

Faculty Supervisor:

Xueliang Andy Sun

Student:

Partner:

Forschungszentrum Jülich

Discipline:

Engineering

Sector:

Environmental Science and Technology; Energy and Utilities; Sustainability & the Environment

University:

The University of Western Ontario

Program: