Laboratory of Materials for Electrochemical Processes

Cathode materials with an olivine structure for the next generation of high-power batteries are now being produced within the framework of the Rustor startup, created jointly with the Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology. Prototypes of sodium-ion batteries based on four types of materials developed in our laboratory at the Faculty of Chemistry of Moscow State University were presented at specialized exhibitions in 2019 and 2020 (example in the figure).

A number of electrochemical cells have been developed and successfully tested for conducting operando studies using X-ray powder diffraction, synchrotron X-ray diffraction and X-ray absorption spectroscopy, neutron powder diffraction, and Mossbauer spectroscopy. The figure shows a diagram of one of these cells.

The figure above shows the crystal structures of the main types of materials with which we work: 1 – layered oxides, 2 – phosphates with the structure of olivine, 3 - oxides with the structure of spinel, 4 – phosphates with the structure of NASICON, 5 – pyrophosphates with the structure of KAlP2O7, 6 – "solid carbon". The figure below shows the electrochemical characteristics in the "fast charge — slow discharge" mode of LiFePO4 phosphates (LFP) obtained by the method of solvothermal synthesis in our laboratory (1) and a commercially available analog (2). These materials are used as cathodes of safe and high-power lithium-ion batteries.