Making Better Batteries: Following Electrochemistry at the Nano Scale with Electron Microscopy

Shibabrata Basak

    Research output: ThesisDissertation (TU Delft)

    222 Downloads (Pure)

    Abstract

    With the focus in automobile industry to switch from petroleum-based vehicles to all electric vehicles, the increasing demand on harvesting energy from renewable sources for a safer and greener future and the ever-increasing demand of the portable electronics systems, the need for better batteries is eminent. The ultimate aim of battery research is to develop a low cost, light and small battery that can deliver high-capacity and/or high power. Lithium and sodium batteries are the frontrunners in achieving this ultimate battery. A macro battery is composed of thousands of millions of nanoparticles. Thus, to prepare a better battery we must determine the respective effects of electrode nanoparticle size, shape, structure, grain–grain boundary, defects and doping on the battery performance. To do so electrode nanoparticles need to be probed at the nano-scale to find out the correlation between their morphology, structure and chemical properties and their evolution due to the battery charging-discharging with battery performance. In this thesis we have utilized the unique capability of electron microscope to resolve the microstructural and chemical information at the (sub)nanometer scale to probe the electrode nanoparticles for making better batteries.
    Original languageEnglish
    Awarding Institution
    • Delft University of Technology
    Supervisors/Advisors
    • Zandbergen, Henny, Supervisor
    Award date26 Apr 2017
    Print ISBNs978-90-8593-293-2
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 2017

    Bibliographical note

    Casimir PhD series, Delft-Leiden 2017-09

    Keywords

    • Li-ion battery
    • Li-O2 battery
    • electrochemistry
    • transmission electron microscopy
    • In-situ
    • MEMS

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