A specially designated laboratory for researching solid-state lithium-ion batteries has opened at the Graz University of Technology (TU Graz) in Austria.
The Christian Doppler Laboratory for Solid-State Batteries was opened on 12 November to investigate how solid-state electrochemical processes take place in solid-state lithium-ion batteries.
Scientists at the facility will explore how those processes influence the technology’s power rate capability and cycling stability in a bid to optimise, develop, and test materials and concepts to improve interfacial properties.
New cell architectures will be developed and tested to tailor solid-state batteries towards their future practicable applications as the next-generation of energy storage solutions
Researchers will work toward achieving solid-state batteries’ potential of 500Wh/kg and 1000Wh/l. Such energy densities would enable electric vehicles to reach 700km with a single charge.
Solid electrolytes interfaces have been recognised as the main bottleneck impeding the development of solid-state batteries.
A TU Graz statement read: “The understanding of ageing effects and resulting damages to the battery as well as the comprehensive correlation of microstructure and interfacial ion transport might contribute to a much better understanding of the solid-state electrochemical processes taking place during charging and discharging a lithium-ion battery.
“Therefore, identifying and understanding the degradation phenomena due to both cycling and calendric ageing, as well as identifying microstructural features related to rapid long-range Li-ion transport to lower the internal resistance in batteries is one of the fundamental challenges in battery research.”
