THE SCHOOL OF MATERIALS SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING

GEORGIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY

Under the provisions of the regulations for the degree

DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY

on Friday, December 11, 2020

11:00 AM

via

BlueJeans Video Conferencing

https://bluejeans.com/398751641

will be held the

DISSERTATION PROPOSAL DEFENSE

for

Luke Soule

“Development of Electrode Materials for High-Rate Lithium-Ion Batteries”

Committee Members:

Prof. Meilin Liu, Advisor, MSE

Prof. Angus Wilkinson, CHEM/MSE

Prof. Matthew McDowell, ME/MSE

Johannes Leisen, Ph.D., CHEM

Prof. Seung Woo Lee, ME

Abstract: 

Full electrification of transportation and improvements in portable electronic devices require batteries that can charge faster than are currently available without sacrificing gravimetric or volumetric energy density or significantly increasing overall cell costs. To develop economically feasible fast-charging batteries, several improvements in overall cell architecture, electrochemically inactive components, and intrinsic properties of electrochemically active materials must be made. The current thesis seeks to optimize the rate capability and stability of anode and cathode material through atomic doping and to pair the material with a suitable electrolyte in a full cell. Two active materials are chosen for modification: the recently discovered high-rate anodic oxide TiNb2O7 (TNO) and the high-voltage cathodic oxide LiMn1.5Ni0.5O4 (LMNO). Initial experimental results show that cationic metal dopants with a d0 electron configuration are most suitable for increasing the electronic and ionic transport properties of TNO. Additionally, similar d0 atomic dopants were found to increase the stability of LMNO cathode materials. The thesis seeks to build on these initial discoveries by selecting suitable liquid and solid electrolytes to increase the temperature stability of active materials and to mitigate the evolution of gas during continued cycling. The work provides insight into the effect of atomic doping on active material, fundamental insight into gas evolution phenomena related to Ti4+ containing active materials, and electrolyte strategies to enable the commercial implementation of inexpensive, high-rate, and temperature-stable lithium-ion battery full cells.