Control of Interfacial Processes (Task 3)

The goal of the Control of Interfacial Processes task is to develop a direct understanding of the structure and processes that take place at the electrode-electrolyte interface.  This will be achieved through the use and development of in situ probes with powerful and complementary molecular-scale sensitivities to understand the fundamental mechanisms that limit performance in lithium ion batteries (such as the formation of the solid electrolyte interphase, or SEI, and the transport of lithium across the electrode-electrolyte interface).

This cross-cutting task focuses on developing an understanding of the structural and electrochemical behavior of the electrode and electrolyte materials of the 3D Interface Architectures and Dynamically Responsive Interfaces tasks, notably at the electrode/electrolyte interface. Task 3 capitalizes on the comprehensive state-of-the-art characterization techniques available at Argonne, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and Northwestern University (NU), and on the use and development of in-situ probes at the Advanced Photon Source, Center for Nanoscale Materials, and Northwestern University (NU). A highlight has been the development of an in-situ ion-conductance probe to image the spatial variation of the electrical current from Si and Sn nano-particulate electrodes.

Above, (a) Schematic drawing and (b) implementation of the low-energy resolution inelastic X-ray (LERIX) system at Sector 20 of the Advanced Photon Source at Argonne National Laboratory. LERIX is being used as a spectroscopic probe of Li and O K-edges from expected solid electrolyte interface (SEI) compounds to understand SEI formation.

February 2013