Advanced Materials for Energy Conversion and Storage VII: Sustainability Materials
Sponsored by: TMS Functional Materials Division, TMS: Energy Conversion and Storage Committee
Program Organizers: Jung Choi, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory; Soumendra Basu, Boston University; Amit Pandey, Lockheed Martin Space; Paul Ohodnicki, University Of Pittsburgh; Kyle Brinkman, Clemson University; Partha Mukherjee, Purdue University; Surojit Gupta, University of North Dakota
Monday 2:00 PM
March 15, 2021
Room: RM 23
Location: TMS2021 Virtual
Session Chair: Surojit Gupta, University of North Dakota; Monu Malik, University of Toronto
2:00 PM
Design of Novel Agriculture-based Materials by Using Principles of Circular Economy: Surojit Gupta1; 1University of North Dakota
Circular economy (CE) calls for a transformative change in economy from sustainability perspective. In other words, the vision is to disrupt the linear economy model which relies on usage and discard of waste product with a better model. CE emphasizes the importance of using recyclable and renewable sources. Biomass has emerged as underutilized renewable source. In this presentation, I will present some of the recent research in my group on biomass. As a part of this presentation, I will show current research on design of functional materials by using Sugar Beep Pulp (SBP), wheat straw (WS), lignin, and other sustainable precursors. Hypothesis based research will be presented on the correlation of microsturcture-mechanics-properties of these novel materials.
2:30 PM
Aluminum-ion Battery Made of AlCl3-Trimethylamine Hydrochloride Ionic Liquid with Superior Performance: Kok Long Ng1; Tony Dong1; John Anawati1; Gisele Azimi1; 1University of Toronto
The increasing demand for lithium-ion batteries has posed a significant challenge in terms of lithium and cobalt availability and their costs. Aluminum-ion batteries are among post lithium-ion batteries that have gained significant interests because of outstanding properties of aluminum including low cost, high abundance, and high theoretical capacity. Most aluminum batteries utilize expensive and corrosive alkylimidazolium/pyridinium chloride-based chloroaluminate ionic liquids with limited widespread applicability. Here, we report a high-performance aluminum battery made of aluminum anode, graphene nanoplatelets cathode, and low-cost aluminum chloride-trimethylamine hydrochloride ionic liquid electrolyte. The battery operates in the temperature range of –10 to 60 ℃ and delivers a capacity of 134 mAh g−1 at 2000 mA g–1 while maintaining a Coulombic efficiency above 98% over 3000 cycles at room temperature. We predict that our battery will help realize the technological potential of aluminum ion batteries by addressing some critical aspects of performance and cost.
2:50 PM
High Performing Vertically Aligned Graphene/Metal Oxide on Carbon Fiber Composite Electrodes for Wearable Supercapacitors and Strength Applications: Deepak Pandey1; Kowsik Sambath Kumar1; Jayan Thomas1; 1University of Central Florida
The present study includes the fabrication of a unique composite electrode with manganese oxide and molybdenum oxide coated on a vertically-aligned graphene structure on carbon fiber (VGCF). Manganese oxide and molybdenum oxide are known for their excellent electrochemical properties and cost-effectiveness. Highly flexible carbon fibers were first used to fabricate a VGCF structure, which exhibited a high specific surface area of 54.59 m2/g and a large areal capacitance of 166 mF/cm2, in 1M sodium sulfate aqueous electrolyte. To further enhance their charge storage capabilities, manganese oxide and molybdenum oxide were coated via hydrothermal route to fabricate: high performing cathodes and anodes. The composite electrodes thus prepared exhibited multifold enhancement in their charge storage capability. The assembled asymmetric device was further subjected to various mechanical tests including bending, tensile and impact tests. Overall this work demonstrates development of a supercapacitor composite electrode for high flexibility and high strength applications.
3:10 PM
Investigation of Cost-effective AlCl3-urea Ionic Liquid Analog for Al-ion Batteries: Monu Malik1; Kok Long Ng1; Gisele Azimi1; 1University of Toronto
The present study investigates the physicochemical properties of cost-effective AlCl3-urea ionic liquid analogs (ILAs) for aluminum-ion batteries. The neutral and the acidic regions for AlCl3/urea molar compositions was investigated using nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (NMR), linear sweep voltammetry (LSV), electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), and symmetrical cell testing to determine the speciation of ionic moieties, electrochemical stability, and ionic conductivity of this complex system. The physical characterization shows that only 1.2–1.5 molar compositions are suitable for Al-ion batteries at room temperature where 1.3 have the highest ionic conductivity. The NMR results indicate Al2Cl7– is dominating species for electrodeposition of aluminum at higher molar composition compared with AlCl2·(urea)2+, while the relative amount of AlCl4– remains almost unchanged across investigated compositions. The Al-ion battery prepared using aluminum anode and graphene nanoplatelets cathode delivered the highest specific capacity of 74 mAh g–1 with 1.4 molar composition ILAs at 100 mA g–1.
3:30 PM
Morphology Evolution and Interface Instability of Sodium Metal Electrodes: Susmita Sarkar1; Partha Mukherjee1; 1Purdue University
The quest for high energy density anode material with low cost has generated significant interest in sodium (Na) metal batteries. However, higher reactivity of Na with the electrolyte causes poor electrochemical performance and amplifies the undesirable surface morphology evolution, such as dendritic growth and pit formation. Here, we have analyzed sodium deposition/stripping behavior with microstructural evolution at different temperatures using ether-based and carbonate-based electrolytes. We observed that the electrolyte solvent plays a major role in the process of electrochemical sodium deposition in a mossy, dendritic, or needle-like structures, which leads to failure. The nonuniformity of the morphology and microstructures of deposited/stripped metal at different electrochemical conditions can be linked to the impedance evolution. Here, the complexities of the morphological evolution and interface instability of sodium metal electrodes are discussed in the context of sodium metal batteries.