As JCESR scientists work to develop lighter and less expensive chemistries than those used in current lithium-ion batteries, lithium-sulfur shows tremendous promise. However, current lithium-sulfur batteries require an excessive amount of electrolyte to achieve moderate cycle life. This perspective presents an alternate approach of using “sparingly solvating” electrolytes, which could move us closer to long-lived, high energy density lithium-sulfur batteries.
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Data-driven electrode parameter identification for vanadium redox flow batteries through experimental and numerical methods
This study provides extensive validation for 3D-to-2D model reduction for redox flow batteries (RFBs). This computationally light, 2D model is used to generate a data set of >6,000 unique RFB simulations for statistical quantification. Read More
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Quantifying Ethereal Solvation Effects on Ca2+ Coordination in Well-Dissociated Electrolytes
Through the combination of X-ray absorption fine structure (XAFS) and time-dependent density functional theory (TDDFT), descriptive measures of the local geometry, coordination, and electronic structure of Ca–ethereal complexes provide distinct structural trends depending on the extent of the Ca2+–solvent interaction. Read More
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Ion-conducting Thermo-responsive Films Based on Polymer Grafted Cellulose Nanocrystals
Mechanically robust, thermoresponsive, ion-conducting nanocomposite films have been prepared from ionic liquid imbibed poly(2-phenylethyl methacrylate)-grafted cellulose nanocrystals. On account of the lower critical solution temperature (LCST) of the grafted polymer in the ionic liquid, these materials exhibit a conductivity decrease around 60 °C … Read More
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Competition of Stacking and Piling Improves Molecular Solubility in Electrolyte
Organic redox-active molecules (redoxmers) are charge carriers in redox flow cells. Since the energy density of a battery fluid is proportional to concentration of active molecules, high molecular solubility is desirable. However, as the redoxmer solutions become crowded, solute-solute interactions become stronger, opposing high solubility. Read More
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Greater redoxmer stability through nanoconfinement
Structural diversity of organic redox-active molecules (redoxmers) permits tuning not only solute-electrolyte interactions but also solute-solute interactions in concentrated electrolyte solutions. The 1,4-dimethoxybenzene (DMB) family is an example of such flexibility. We show that DMB molecule 1 forms extended aggregates in concentrated solutions whereas simpler … Read More
