Project update: Industry partnership with UCLA in nanoscale study on advanced batteries

Project

Visualizing the dynamics of carbon-enhanced negative electrodes

Application

Automotive sector and utility grid energy storage

Timeline

18 months

Goal

The objective of the project is to determine the fundamental mechanisms by which carbon additives improve lead battery performance using innovative techniques not used before in lead battery research:

• Using Scanning Transmission Electron Microscopy (STEM), researchers can observe the crystallization and dissolution of the phases involved in the charge and discharge of a lead battery during operation at the nanoscale:
  • In a battery, the crystallization of some of the materials results in early battery failure and lower cycle life.
  • By understanding these processes, this presents opportunities to decrease battery failure and maximize cycle life, for longer-lasting batteries. 
• This will be critical in CBI’s research to deliver performance improvements in lead battery technology.

Contractor

UCLA

Initial findings

• The microscale electrochemical cells developed by UCLA are considered small-scale lead batteries. 
• Using STEM and optical microscopy has determined that these microscale cells should be able to be scaled up into larger, real-size lead battery systems.
• The first project report shows how UCLA have been able to develop parts of these microcells:
  • Ti/Au wafers 
  • Thin lead and lead oxide electrodes
  • Mapping of the composition of a range of lead battery materials

View the project press release

Released 27 July 2020

View the project update video