Organic Chemistry—A Tool for Improved Performance of Lithium Secondary Batteries

<b>Hydro‑Québec’s Center of Excellence in Transportation Electrification and Energy Storage has been a world-class innovation hub in the field of battery materials for electric vehicles as well as other energy storage applications for more than 40 years. </b>The Center’s efforts are primarily focused on advanced lithium‑ion batteries and solid‑state batteries. Its know‑how, extensive intellectual property portfolio and cutting‑edge facilities draw interest from around the world and make it an essential partner for major industry players involved in the development of next generation battery materials and technologies.<br/>This presentation will outline our major breakthroughs leveraging our strong expertise in organic chemistry. By dint of multidisciplinary team, our work is rooted in understanding degradation phenomena of battery systems and aims to provide solutions based on the structure-property relationships of materials, which resulted in 40 patents with new concepts since 2015.<br/>To tackle the challenges related with high voltage cathodes like LMFP or NMC, we developed new additives to protect electrolyte-cathode interface and limit degradation phenomena such as transition metal dissolutions^1,2 or electrolyte side reactions.³ In addition, we developed new binders or co-binders to improve low temperature applications, increase C-rate performance,⁴ and polymers to eliminate different types of gas by in-situ trapping.⁵ Our works include synthesis of new kind of salts for liquid and solid lithium batteries.⁶ We also developed new organic cathode materials with high operation voltage up to 4.5V, and high specific capacity of 692 mAh/g. The cycle life was tested with polymer electrolyte system at 40˚C.⁷ Finally, another major project is protection of lithium metal anode by different organic compound deposition method like spray-coating or solution casting. This protective organic layer stabilized Li metal interface providing enhanced performance with various electrolyte chemistries such as liquid, polymer, and sulfide electrolyte.⁸<br/>The organic and polymer chemistry team of center of excellence has developed a lot of creative solutions to address a wide range of issues such as stability, efficiency, low temperature performance and low cost.<br/><br/>1. C. Mallet, J.-C. Daigle, S. Rochon and K. Zaghib, Hydro-Quebec, Murata Manufacturing Co., Ltd. 2020 Patent Number: WO2020034031 <br/>2. Mater. Adv., 2021, 2, 253-260<br/>3. C. Mallet, S. Rochon and K. Zaghib, Hydro-Quebec, Murata Manufacturing Co., Ltd. 2020 Patent Number: WO2020069619<br/>4. K. Zaghib, M. Beaupre, C. Mallet, J.-C. Daigle, Y. Asakawa and S. Uesaka, Sony Corporation, Hydro-Quebec 2019, WO2019006560<br/>5. Scientific Reports (2020, 10, 10305<br/>6. C. Mallet, S. Rochon, A. Lafleur-Lambert, S. Uesaka and K. Zaghib, Hydro-Quebec, Sony Corporation 2018, WO2018176134<br/>7. J.-C. Daigle, A. Lafleur-Lambert, S. Rochon, Y. Asakawa, C. Mallet and K. Zaghib, Hydro-Quebec, Murata Manufacturing Co., Ltd. 2019, WO2019210411<br/>8. C. Mallet, S. Verreault, J. Pronovost, S. Rochon, J.-C. Daigle, K. Amouzegar, et al., Hydro-Quebec, Murata Manufacturing Co., Ltd. 2020, WO2020034036