Electrochemical Flow Cell to Detect Li-ion Battery Crosstalk Reactions

Abstract

While the Li-ion battery has been engineered over the last four decades to improve energy capacity, power density, and device safety, the useful lifetime of this essential energy storage technology has not progressed as much. This is largely due to experimental challenges of studying, characterizing, and understanding the SEI: the battery `component' most vital to ageing and failure. More importantly for the goal of improving Li-ion battery lifetime, researchers have lacked adequate diagnostic tools for studying how the SEI fails. Here we demonstrate a prototype electrochemical flow cell for the specific application of detecting crosstalk reactions in advanced Li-ion battery chemistries. We develop a generator-collector approach to understanding battery crosstalk and leverage finite-element simulations to guide design of this novel reactor. After calibrating the device using a known redox couple, the device is cycled under varying electrode configurations to detect capacity fade induced by the metal dissolution crosstalk mechanism. The path forward will involve adding new product detection capabilities and engineering a reactor environment that replicates a sealed Li-ion battery.

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Identifiers

DOI

10.1149/osf.io/3kxgw

Journal

Unknown journal

Year

2020