Neil Dasgupta1
University of Michigan1
Solid-state batteries have the potential to be a disruptive technology because of their ability to improve safety and increase energy density by incorporating Li metal anodes. However, all solid-state interfaces present unique challenges, including high interfacial impedances, accommodation of mechanical stresses due to solid-solid interfacial contact, and (electro)chemical instabilities that can evolve during dynamic cycling conditions. Furthermore, a significant challenge facing the scale-up of SSBs is to improve our understanding of processing science needed to enable manufacturing.<br/><br/>To address these challenges, our group focuses on gaining new fundamental insights into the coupled phenomena occurring at interfaces, and applied this knowledge to rationally design interfacial composition and structure to address the root cause of performance limitations. In this talk, I will describe our journey to deepen our understanding of interfacial phenomena at both the Li metal anode side, as well as in composite solid-state cathode materials. On the anode side, there is a critical need to understand and control the coupling between electrochemistry, morphology, and mechanics, to improve the uniformity and reversibility of plating and stripping during charge and discharge, respectively. On the cathode side, we focus on overcoming energy/power tradeoffs, which exhibit unique phenomena owing to the single-ion conducting nature of ceramic electrolytes, as well as improving stability at high voltages.<br/><br/>Equipped with this fundamental understanding, I will describe our efforts to engineer modified interfaces through control of the surface chemistry, incorporation of interlayers, and fabricating 3-D architectures. Through this interdisciplinary approach of fundamental materials chemistry and applied engineering, strategies to address future interfacial challenges will be addressed, pointing towards rational design and manufacturing of optimized interfaces.