Yiguang Ju, the Robert Porter Patterson Professor, and Director of Sustainability Energy, in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at Princeton University will present.

Engineering design of high nickel cathode materials for high energy capacity and high thermal stability EV applications

ABSTRACT:   Li ion batteries (LiBs) have been widely used in portable electronics, electric vehicles, and energy storage. However, current LiBs are still constrained by their high costs, low energy density, low thermal stability, and high fire propensity. In this seminar, we will present a recent study of combustion synthesis and a gradient ion doping concept for high nickel LiB cathode materials with increased energy density and thermal stability. The seminar will present the combustion synthesis method of high nickel nickel-manganese-cobalt (NMC) electrode materials using sub-micron aerosols. A similarity relation between the droplet size and the precursor viscosity is obtained. The correlation between the particle morphologies, flame temperature, precursor compositions, and precursor vaporization is investigated. In addition, the effect of lanthanide ion doping on the improvement of high nickel NMC cathode material energy capacity, crystalline structure, cycling and thermal stability (oxygen release) is demonstrated. Furthermore, by controlling the vaporization time and the crystallization time of aerosol, a concentration gradient ion-doping structure is demonstrated. The results show that the concentration ion doping can further improve the cycling and thermal stability of high nickel cathode materials. The results suggest that by using engineering design of concentration gradient ion doping in high nickel cathode materials, low cost as well as high energy capacity and high thermal stability LiB cathode materials can be developed for EV and large scale energy storage applications.

BIO: Yiguang Ju is the Robert Porter Patterson Professor at Princeton University. He received his bachelor degree from Tsinghua University in 1986, and his PhD degree in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering from Tohoku University in 1994.  He was appointed as an Assistant and Associate Professor at Tohoku University from 1995 to 1999, and as a Chang-Jiang Professor and the Director of Thermo-physics Institute at Tsinghua University in 2000. He joined Princeton University in 2001. Ju’s research interests include combustion, fuels, propulsion, plasma, and energy materials for low carbon energy conversion and chemical manufacturing. He has published more than 250 journal articles. He is an ASME Fellow and an inaugural Fellow of the Combustion Institute. He served as the chair of US Sections of the Combustion Institute and is a board member of the Combustion Institute. He is an Associate Editor for AIAA Journal, Combustion Science and Technology, Proceedings of Combustion Institute, and Frontiers in Energy. He received the Bessel Research Award from von Humboldt Foundation, NASA Director’s appreciation award, and the International Prize of Japanese Combustion Society, and is a plenary speaker of the 38^th International Symposium on Combustion.

Yiguang Ju, the Robert Porter Patterson Professor, and Director of Sustainability Energy, in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at Princeton University will present.

Engineering design of high nickel cathode materials for high energy capacity and high thermal stability EV applications

ABSTRACT:   Li ion batteries (LiBs) have been widely used in portable electronics, electric vehicles, and energy storage. However, current LiBs are still constrained by their high costs, low energy density, low thermal stability, and high fire propensity. In this seminar, we will present a recent study of combustion synthesis and a gradient ion doping concept for high nickel LiB cathode materials with increased energy density and thermal stability. The seminar will present the combustion synthesis method of high nickel nickel-manganese-cobalt (NMC) electrode materials using sub-micron aerosols. A similarity relation between the droplet size and the precursor viscosity is obtained. The correlation between the particle morphologies, flame temperature, precursor compositions, and precursor vaporization is investigated. In addition, the effect of lanthanide ion doping on the improvement of high nickel NMC cathode material energy capacity, crystalline structure, cycling and thermal stability (oxygen release) is demonstrated. Furthermore, by controlling the vaporization time and the crystallization time of aerosol, a concentration gradient ion-doping structure is demonstrated. The results show that the concentration ion doping can further improve the cycling and thermal stability of high nickel cathode materials. The results suggest that by using engineering design of concentration gradient ion doping in high nickel cathode materials, low cost as well as high energy capacity and high thermal stability LiB cathode materials can be developed for EV and large scale energy storage applications.

BIO: Yiguang Ju is the Robert Porter Patterson Professor at Princeton University. He received his bachelor degree from Tsinghua University in 1986, and his PhD degree in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering from Tohoku University in 1994.  He was appointed as an Assistant and Associate Professor at Tohoku University from 1995 to 1999, and as a Chang-Jiang Professor and the Director of Thermo-physics Institute at Tsinghua University in 2000. He joined Princeton University in 2001. Ju’s research interests include combustion, fuels, propulsion, plasma, and energy materials for low carbon energy conversion and chemical manufacturing. He has published more than 250 journal articles. He is an ASME Fellow and an inaugural Fellow of the Combustion Institute. He served as the chair of US Sections of the Combustion Institute and is a board member of the Combustion Institute. He is an Associate Editor for AIAA Journal, Combustion Science and Technology, Proceedings of Combustion Institute, and Frontiers in Energy. He received the Bessel Research Award from von Humboldt Foundation, NASA Director’s appreciation award, and the International Prize of Japanese Combustion Society, and is a plenary speaker of the 38^th International Symposium on Combustion.