EV Engineering News

Penn State professor wins grant to develop self-healing layers for Li metal anodes

18650 Batteries (ChargedEVs) 2

Donghai Wang, who leads the Energy Nanostructure Laboratory at Penn State, has won a $1.1-million grant from the DOE’s Vehicle Technologies Office to develop a new lithium-ion conductor that will prevent the formation of dendrites, the bane of lithium metal anodes.

Wang and his team plan to use thin layers of nanostructured hybrid materials to suppress dendrite formation. The goal is to develop protective, self-healing layers for Li-metal anodes that will allow high cycling efficiency and dendrite-free cycling.

The DOE also awarded $1.25 million to a separate research project led by Prashant Kumta at the University of Pittsburgh on engineering approaches to dendrite-free lithium anodes. This project will design a composite lithium anode/current collector to mitigate dendrite formation. The researchers will explore composite structures consisting of a porous foam (for example, copper) and an optimal isomorphous lithium alloy (for example, lithium and magnesium).

 

Source: Penn State via Green Car Congress

Comment
Create Account. Already Registered? Log In

Virtual Conference on EV Engineering: Free to Attend

Don't miss our next Virtual Conference on April 15-18, 2024. Register for the free webinar sessions below and reserve your spot to watch them live or on-demand.

LOAD MORE SESSIONS

EV Engineering Webinars & Whitepapers

EV Tech Explained