Symposium CH01-Characterization of Dynamics and Heterogeneity in Energy Materials

Energy devices are often operated at far-from-equilibrium conditions. Their performance is dependent on the key kinetic processes such as mass conduction, charge transfer, interfacial nucleation and deposition, phase evolution, and degradation. In addition, energy devices are also hierarchical systems spanning multi-scales. For example, in commercial batteries, both the cathode and anode are composites of high heterogeneity at the nano- to microscale, consisting of active particles of different sizes and irregular shapes, a matrix composed of polymer binders and additives, and pores filled with the electrolyte. The active particles are further populated with grain boundaries, compositional variation, and microcracks. Such structural complexity inevitably induces heterogeneous electrochemical activities across a wide range of length scales. The dynamic nature and heterogeneous activities pose great challenges for basic understanding of the system performance and predicting the degradation pathway of energy devices. Several factors come into play in the material framework. While the local lattice and electronic structures at the atomic scale play the fundamental role, defects across different length scales are likely the determining factor in the reaction kinetics through nucleation and growth of undesired phases. The hierarchical structural and chemical complexity calls for a holistic investigation using advanced experimental probes with sufficient and complementary spatial/temporal resolution and chemical sensitivity and coupled with computational tools that could offer theoretical insights. This symposium aims to provide a platform to bring together experts in different disciplines and exchange state-of-the-art understanding on the dynamics and heterogeneity of energy storage and conversion systems. It will help formulate outstanding research needs and grand challenges in connecting the intricate local activities at small scale with the system performance at large scale. Recent developments on in situ/operando experiments and data-driven approach to interpret coupled mechanisms are highly welcome.

Topics will include:

Energy storage materials such as batteries
Energy conversion materials such as fuel cells, thermoelectrics, and electrochemical catalysis
X-ray based analytics
Electron microscopy analysis on charge-lattice coupling and tomography characteristics
Optical microscopy-based analysis on particle assembly
In-line inspection for manufacturing
Cell defect detection and failure analysis
High-throughput and/or autonomous experimentation
Streamlined data curation and mining
Data-driven analysis using machine learning and statistical analysis
Physics-based computational modeling

Invited Speakers:

Veronica Augustyn (North Carolina State University, USA)
Peng Bai (Washington University in St. Louis, USA)
Anmin Cao (Institute of Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China)
Raphaële Clément (University of California, Santa Barbara, USA)
Tomoya Kawaguchi (Tohoku University, Japan)
Hansu Kim (Hanyang University, Republic of Korea)
Yong Min Lee (Yonsei University, Republic of Korea)
Linsen Li (Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China)
Yuzhang Li (University of California, Los Angeles, USA)
Feng Lin (Virginia Tech, USA)
Pietro Papa Lopes (Argonne National Laboratory, USA)
Marie-Ingrid Richard (European Synchrotron Radiation Facility, France)
Mary Scott (University of California, Berkeley, USA)
Xiaonan Shan (University of Houston, USA)
Dong Su (Institute of Physics, Chinese Acadamy of Sciences, China)
Ming Tang (Rice University, USA)
Vaciliki Tileri (École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Switzerland)
Sarah Tolbert (University of California, Los Angeles, USA)
Yan-Kai Tzeng (SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, USA)
Feng Wang (Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, USA)
Jie Xiao (Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, USA)
Qiang Zhang (Tsinghua University, China)

Symposium Organizers

Kejie Zhao

Purdue University

USA

[email protected]

Luxi Li

Argonne National Laboratory

X-ray Science Division

USA

[email protected]

Yijin Liu

The University of Texas at Austin

Cockrell School of Engineering

USA

[email protected]

Jungwon Park

Seoul National University

School of Chemical and Biological Engineering

Republic of Korea

[email protected]

Topics

electronic structure ion-solid interactions