Project title: Diffraction-Based Energy-Resolved Neutron Imaging of Batteries under Operation
Project description:
This Ph.D. project is part of the Center of Excellence, ESS (European Spallation Source) Lighthouse in Hard Materials in 3D (SOLID) and the aim is to directly image the microstructural evolution in rechargeable ion batteries under charging-discharging cycles and thereby link the ion transport and intercalation, phase and crystal structure changes to the performance, degradation, and life-time.
These processes take place at length scales ranging from the atomic scale to the micrometer scale, so it is a multi-scale challenge. The ideal analysis method will be non-destructive advanced neutron imaging in 2D and 3D: diffraction-based energy-resolved neutron imaging.
The main goal is to be able to map the ionic transport as the battery electrode microstructure undergoes huge changes during the charging-discharging cycles. The related structural and chemical changes are not perfectly reversible and the aim is to understand, which processes are dominating the degradation.
This fundamental knowledge is required for mitigating the degradation in future electrode designs.
The main focus of this Ph.D. project will be to implement diffraction-based energy-resolved neutron imaging in situ, in 2D and 3D, and at multiscale to obtain a deeper knowledge of the microstructural processes involved in the ionic transport.
These studies require custom-built battery cells for in situ electrochemical characterizations during neutron imaging. Relatively high neutron flux and a neutron detector with high spatial resolution are required, for this reason, some experiments will be held at the most powerful neutron facility: J-PARC in Japan, and other well-known facilities, such as the Paul Scherer Institute (PSI, Switzerland) and the Institut Laue-Langevin (ILL, France).
doba@dtu.dk