Versatility of Wet-Chemical Synthesis for Lithium Ion Battery Electrode Materials

摘要

Improvements and scaling benefits in battery technology are causing a paradigm shift in the automotive industry. This is for example driven by the EU's commitment to pursue a resource-efficient, green and competitive low-carbon economy. In its 2011 Transport White Paper, the European Commission has foreseen a reduction of 60% of greenhouse gas emissions, relative to those of 1990, by 2050. Moreover, the goal has been set to halve the use of conventionally fuelled cars in urban transport by 2030, while even phasing them completely out in cities by 2050. For reaching these targets, electric cars have an essential role. Energy Ville is a collaboration between the Flemish research partners KU Leuven, VITO, imec, and Hasselt University, in the field of sustainable energy and intelligent energy systems, in the urban environment, including battery systems, for stationary storage and for automotive applications (mainly lithium ion batteries (LIB's)). The current expansion of its R&D facilities in Genk, Belgium includes a ?100m2 dry room and state of the art pilot-scale pouch cell production line. On this poster, we present an overview of the work within the chemistry and materials science division. We discuss the synthesis of several electrode materials for LIB's. This includes Li[4]Ti[5]O[12] (LTO), LiFePO[4]/LiMnPO[4] and titanium oxide surface-modified LNMO particles. These are obtained via a variety of synthesis routes, including aqueous solution-gel synthesis, combustion synthesis, thermal decomposition synthesis and controlled precipitation, truly demonstrating the versatility of wet-chemical synthesis as a way to obtain (nano)particulate oxide and phosphate materials. This enables us to develop innovative ways to modify and engineer these materials to improve key performance indicators for their application in LIB's, such as cycle life, rate capability, production costs and ecological impact. This project receives the support of the European Union, the European Regional Development Fund ERDF, Flanders Innovation & Entrepreneurship and the Province of Limburg (project number EFRO936). The authors would like to thank the other group members for their contributions and assistance.