Research on the development of high capacity and safe materials that can be incorporated into traditional Li-ion batteries to boost performance. Specific focus is on the development of high-capacity anodes (e.g silicon-based). Solid-state Li-ion battery development for enhanced safety is also being investigated.
AMPEiRE has broad activity within the Li-ion development space. These efforts harness materials synthesis and characterization expertise from the Department of Chemical Sciences and Bernal Institute to develop high-performance Li-ion active materials. UL has coordinated two European projects in this space (Si-DRIVE from 2018-2023) and the current project SiGNE(https://signehorizon.eu/). Research spans a range of different material classes, with particular focus on anode materials. A number of intercalation (3), alloying (1) and conversion type (4) anodes have been developed in UL, with particular focus on high-capacity Si anodes (2).
Example Publications:
'Si Nanowires: From Model System to Practical Li-Ion Anode Material and Beyond' ACS Energy Letters' 2024 https://doi.org/10.1021/acsenergylett.4c00262
'In-situ continuous hydrothermal synthesis of TiO2 nanoparticles on conductive N-doped MXene nanosheets for binder-free Li-ion battery anodes' Chemical Engineering Journal 2022 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cej.2021.132976
'A thin Si nanowire network anode for high volumetric capacity and long-life lithium-ion batteries' Journal of Energy Chemistry 2023 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jechem.2023.02.025
'Colloidal WSe2 nanocrystals as anodes for lithium-ion batteries' Nanoscale 2020 https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlehtml/2020/nr/d0nr05691j