Simulations of 3D nanoscale architectures and electrolyte characteristics for Li-ion microbatteries

•3D nanoscale electrode architecture geometries have been simulated and compared for microbattery performance.•The simulations include different electrolyte characteristics for a range of electrode geometries.•3D core-shell nanoarchitectures show improved performance for both polymer gel or liquid e...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of energy storage 2019-06, Vol.23, p.1-8
Main Authors: Clancy, Tomás M., Rohan, James F.
Format: Article
Language:eng
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Summary:•3D nanoscale electrode architecture geometries have been simulated and compared for microbattery performance.•The simulations include different electrolyte characteristics for a range of electrode geometries.•3D core-shell nanoarchitectures show improved performance for both polymer gel or liquid electrolytes.•3D nanoarchitectures with optimised electrolytes can improve battery areal energy and power performance. Finite element simulations are presented, showing material utilisation and electrochemical cell behaviour of a rechargeable Li-ion microbattery in planar thin-film, 3D and 3D core core-shell nanoarchitectures in which the active material is 250 nm thick as a shell on a 250 nm diameter core support. The materials simulated are non-porous additive-free LiCoO2, lithium metal and solid-state, polymer, polymer-gel and liquid electrolytes. The concentration profile of the LiCoO2 during discharge and areal energy versus areal power in a Ragone plot for each of the different architectures are compared. It is shown that the planar thin-film architecture gave better cell performance when used with the solid-state electrolyte with all three architectures showing material utilisation of the cathode at the closest point to the anode. The 3D and 3D core-shell nanoarchitectures show better battery performance for the polymer electrolyte then the planar thin film, with the 3D nanoarchitecture being the best. The 3D core-shell architecture shows a significant improvement in performance by comparison with the thin-film and 3D nanoarchitectures when a polymer-gel or a liquid electrolyte are used. The 3D nanoarchitecture shows a slight decline in performance when going from a polymer-gel electrolyte to a liquid electrolyte with faster Li-ion transport. The 3D core-shell nanoarchitecture shows improved cell performance with faster Li-ion transport. The adoption of 3D nanoarchitectures with suitable electrolytes can have a significant improvement in battery areal energy and power performance.
ISSN:2352-152X
2352-1538