Research

Transcending Boundaries in Battery and Fuel Cell Science

WVU ESRC researchers hypothesize and test new materials that overcome boundary performance barriers within a battery or fuel component and across components. Emphasis is on developing complementary composite materials for anodes, cathodes, and electrolytes whose boundary layers promote charge transfer, enhance conductivity, maximize cycling, and minimize thermal stress.

Manufacturability equally informs the research. The best materials in the lab are nothing more than curiosities if they cannot be manufactured and assembled affordably.

The ESRC was launched in July 2012 as the Center for Electrochemical Energy Systems through funding from the Research Challenge Grant Program of the West Virginia Higher Education Policy Commission Division of Science and Research (WV HEPC). In 2013, CEES merged with the National Institute for Fuel Cell Technology and was renamed the ESRC in 2014.

The WV HEPC grant specifically funded research on large scale sodium super-ionic conducting materials, yet the team members’ interests span the full range of electrochemical systems from rechargeable batteries for consumer electronics to transportation to grid scale storage as well as fuel cells for the production of electricity and the reforming of methane to produce liquid fuels.

The research includes material development and testing, material and system modeling, and material characterization.

Material Development

• Sodium super-ionic conducting (NaSICON) particles amalgamated with an optimized sodium-conducting glass, a technology for which WVU is seeking a full patent
• Electrolyte properties of ionic liquids and combinations of organic cations and anions
• Electrodes featuring sulfur-active materials, sodium oxide compounds
• Carbon-fluorophosphate composite cathodes using layer-by-layer nano-assembly techniques
• Carbon-sulfur cathodes using mesoporous C-S composites with mesopores and micropores

Modeling

• Continuum modeling to simulate battery operational environments
• Molecular mechanics using brick-layer modeling to bridge the gap between computation to experimentation
• Advanced methods to accurately examine charge transfer and excitation dynamics in cathode materials

Characterization

• Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy to evaluate conductivity
• Scanning Electron Microscopy for surface/interface morphologies
• Scanning Tunneling Electron Microscopy for high resolution imagery of the crystal bulk and grain boundaries
• Magnetic Resonance to identify short and long range motions in glass/crystal interface conduction