Batteries

Building on knowledge acquired relating to alumina precipitation synthesis for heterogeneous catalyst supports, IFPEN’s teams set about working on pCAM synthesis for Li-ion batteries. These materials are indeed also obtained by precipitation in stirred tank reactors, which shares similarities with alumina synthesis (nucleation, growth and agglomeration phenomena). Nevertheless, they come with their own challenges and, consequently, with new research opportunities...

Everybody knows that lithium-ion batteries, used in cell phones, computers, etc., gradually lose capacity and eventually fail. This loss of capacity is primarily due to a layer known as the SEI, which forms between one of the battery’s electrodes and the electrolyte (see Figure). This layer already appears after the first battery charge/discharge cycle, and grows over time, consuming lithium ions. The process is irreversible and therefore detrimental to battery capacitye...

The electrification of mobility is a major transformation aimed at reducing greenhouse gas and pollutant emissions by the transport sector. In this context, the Li-ion battery is currently the technology employed by all car manufacturers to provide the energy storage required for the roll-out of electric vehicles...

For around fifteen years now, IFPEN has been focusing on modeling conventional batteries to represent their nominal operation (electric and thermal behavior during normal operation), throughout their lifetime (...) and in the event of thermal runaway (failure, improper use)...