Nanostructured Materials for secondary alkaline ion batteries

RUFFO, RICCARDO
open
Thanks to their superior energy and power density, lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) currently dominate the market of power sources for portable devices. The economy of scale and engineering optimizations have driven the cost of LIBs below the 200 $/KWh at the pack level. This catalyzed the market penetration of electric vehicles and made them a viable candidate for stationary energy storage. However, the rapid market expansion of LIBs raised growing concerns about the future sustainability of this technology. In particular, lithium and cobalt supplies are considered vulnerable, primarily because of the geopolitical implications of their high concentration in only a few countries. In the search for the next generation secondary batteries, known as post-lithium ion batteries, candidates that do not use rare metals have been extensively investigated in the last 10 years. Sodium-ion batteries (SIBs) attracted considerable attention thanks to the high abundance of the precursors and wide distribution of sodium on the earth's crust. As a matter of fact, as it will be pointed out during the dissertation, it is not straightforward to allocate the reduction of the price of the alkaline ion precursors to the reduction of the battery price. However, the difficulties in the supply of raw materials for LIBs, such as shortages in lithium carbonates and cobalt ores, could make lithium and cobalt-free systems, such as SIBs, attractive and cost-competitive alternatives. Compared to other, more exotic chemistries including Ca2+, Mg2+ and Al3+ batteries, SIBs are nowadays considered one as the most promising alternative to LIBs. Despite the extensive research, anode materials for SIBs still represent a serious problem for the commercial exploitation of this technology. Accordingly, the doctoral research on SIBs has been focused on anode materials. In particular, the attention was directed towards conversion oxides. Compared to intercalation materials, conversion-based ones have higher cap
Thanks to their superior energy and power density, lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) currently dominate the market of power sources for portable devices. The economy of scale and engineering optimizations have driven the cost of LIBs below the 200 $/KWh at the pack level. This catalyzed the market penetration of electric vehicles and made them a viable candidate for stationary energy storage. However, the rapid market expansion of LIBs raised growing concerns about the future sustainability of this technology. In particular, lithium and cobalt supplies are considered vulnerable, primarily because of the geopolitical implications of their high concentration in only a few countries. In the search for the next generation secondary batteries, known as post-lithium ion batteries, candidates that do not use rare metals have been extensively investigated in the last 10 years. Sodium-ion batteries (SIBs) attracted considerable attention thanks to the high abundance of the precursors and wide distribution of sodium on the earth's crust. As a matter of fact, as it will be pointed out during the dissertation, it is not straightforward to allocate the reduction of the price of the alkaline ion precursors to the reduction of the battery price. However, the difficulties in the supply of raw materials for LIBs, such as shortages in lithium carbonates and cobalt ores, could make lithium and cobalt-free systems, such as SIBs, attractive and cost-competitive alternatives. Compared to other, more exotic chemistries including Ca2+, Mg2+ and Al3+ batteries, SIBs are nowadays considered one as the most promising alternative to LIBs. Despite the extensive research, anode materials for SIBs still represent a serious problem for the commercial exploitation of this technology. Accordingly, the doctoral research on SIBs has been focused on anode materials. In particular, the attention was directed towards conversion oxides. Compared to intercalation materials, conversion-based ones have higher cap
No
embargoed_20210206
Fiore, M