Faglige nøgleord: Energy, batteries, solid state batteries, lithium
Oplæg tilgængeligt på: Engelsk
I am 25 and I come from Italy, and I am a first year PhD student in DTU Energy.
I moved to Denmark in 2022 to follow the master of Physics and Nanotechnology in DTU, after getting my bachelor in Materials Engineering in Italy. After the end of my master I wanted to stay in Denmark longer, and felt like I wanted to learn more, all jobs I could apply to seemed a bit boring to me, so I thought I might explore the research world.
My PhD project is about solid state lithium batteries. I work with a new electrolyte that has been recently discovered and has good properties both regarding conductivity and electrochemical and mechanical stability.
Solid state batteries are made by layering different materials (an anode, an electrolyte and a cathode), each of them often consisting of pressed or sintered powders. The batteries are then tested under pressure, because even if the materials have good conductivity, inter-particle contact is poor between solids.
The focus of my research is to develop a new composite material which includes the electrolyte and an additive to make the particles stick together. This additive is a natural clay in which we substitute Na ions, with Li ions, in order to make it conductive.
This new composite material could have the same properties at ambient pressure, removing the need for pressure testing and opening realistic commercial applications for the technology.