Understanding and Controlling Material Structure and Reactivity in Beyond Li-Ion Systems

Beyond Li-ion technologies have the potential to diversify the suite of chemistries that can address our energy storage needs in the next few decades. However, we still do not know if the decades of research dedicated to optimizing Li-ion battery performance is transferable to more earth abundant chemistries, such as K-ion batteries. In this talk, I will discuss our efforts to understand why canonical electrolytes from Li-ion batteries (e.g., fluoroethylene carbonate additives) fail when applied to beyond Li systems. In addition, I explore how we can potentially leverage the lower reactivity of PF₆-based electrolytes that is observed upon moving down the periodic table from Li to Na and K. Insight from these results indicate that electrolyte engineering in beyond Li-ion systems may be an entirely new undertaking and that with these changes, we also have to consider all other components of the battery (electrode materials, solvents, and the resulting solid electrolyte interphase structure).