Project Description

Lithium-ion batteries provide high energy and power densities. However, high discharge/charge rate, operation under extreme ambient temperatures, and the form factor of large capacity batteries yield from excessive heat generation with few pathways for effective heat removal. This increases the internal temperature and can often lead to thermal runaway (i.e., fires and explosions). Eliminating this threat requires a deeper understanding of the electrochemical heat generation and the prevalent anisotropic thermal transport within the battery that leads to accumulation of heat within the core. Accurate non-destructive characterization of thermal conductivity and internal temperatures will enable a better understanding of transport as well as aid numerical electrochemical-thermal modeling, which will improve thermal management strategies. Numerous approaches are under development that can distribute the heat generated in the high capacity Li metal and [1] Li-S battery [2] systems to avoid lithium dendrite formation. This project will consider testing thermal conductivity and internal temperatures in operando.

Start Date

Summer or Fall 2020

Postdoc Qualifications 

Familiarity with some or all of the following topics: thermal transport; electrochemistry; lithium-based batteries; multi-physics and multi-scale modeling; non-destructive characterization

Co-advisors 

Amy Marconnet
marconnet@purdue.edu
Mechanical Engineering
https://engineering.purdue.edu/MTEC

Vilas Pol
vpol@purdue.edu
Chemical Engineering
https://engineering.purdue.edu/ViPER/index.html

References 

P. J. Kim, K. Kim, V. G. Pol, Uniform Metal-Ion Flux through Interface-modified Membrane for Highly Stable Metal Batteries, Electrochimica Acta, 2018, 283, 517-527.

P. J. Kim, K. Kim, V. G. Pol, “Towards highly stable lithium sulfur batteries: Surface functionalization of carbon nanotube scaffold”, Carbon, 2018, 131, 175-183

R. Kantharaj and A. Marconnet, “Heat Generation and Thermal Transport in Lithium-Ion Batteries: A Scale-Bridging Perspective”, Nanoscale and Microscale Thermophysical Engineering, vol. 23, no.2, pp. 128-156, 2019. DOI: 10.1080/15567265.2019.1572679 

A. Gaitonde, A. Nimmagadda, and A. Marconnet, “Measurement of Interfacial Thermal Conductance in Lithium Ion Batteries”, Journal of Power Sources, vol. 343, pp. 431-436, 2017. DOI: 10.1016/j.jpowsour.2017.01.019