N.N. Semenov Federal Research Center for Chemical Physics of the Russian Academy of Sciences

Laboratory of Electrochemical power sources

Energy industry Electrochemistry Physical Chemistry

The laboratory is engaged in the development of electrolytes and electrode materials for chemical current sources and studies of physico-chemical processes occurring in chemical current sources.

The main areas of research:

- Development of polymer and composite lithium-conductive electrolytes based on polyethylene oxide for lithium batteries

- Investigation of the thermal stability of electrode materials for sodium-ion batteries

- Investigation of the effect of the composition of the liquid electrolyte on the characteristics of sodium-ion batteries

- Investigation of combustion and explosion products of lithium- and sodium-ion batteries gorenje

- Diffusion processes and SEI formation on lithium and sodium electrodes

- Theoretical and experimental studies of the electrochemical properties of redox-active microgels for flow batteries

- Development of redox charge mediators for lithium-oxygen current sources

Research directions

Sodium-ion batteries: side processes on interfaces and safety issues

At the moment, sodium-ion batteries are actively being developed, which, with a lower but comparable specific energy intensity, turn out to be competitive due to the lower specific cost of stored energy due to the prevalence and cheapness of sodium salts compared to lithium. At the same time, the issue of fire and explosion safety of the NIA has not been practically investigated today. Accidents related to fires and explosions of lithium-ion batteries (LIA) often occur all over the world, especially with cell phones, laptops; there are precedents with electric vehicles and airplanes. Some of them have created a serious threat to human life and health and have led to numerous product recalls from manufacturers. Na-ion batteries have a number of differences from LIA (non-graphite carbon materials are used as the anode material instead of graphite, copper foil is not used, other solvents are used to prepare the electrolyte and, accordingly, a different composition of the passivating film on the negative electrode, cathode materials are also different) this makes the identification of potential risks and the development of methods and materials to minimize them an extremely urgent task. The purpose of the proposed project is to identify the principles of the choice of materials, electrolytes and modes of operation of sodium-ion batteries, ensuring their safe operation. To do this, the tasks of developing effective methods for quantifying the parameters of thermal acceleration - the main mechanism of explosion and destruction of batteries - and creating mathematical models useful for the development of safe batteries will be solved. The main part of the project is aimed at investigating side processes at the interface of anode and cathode materials with electrolyte solutions, and establishing the influence of these processes on the fire and explosion safety of batteries. Modern experimental methods of thermal analysis, various types of spectroscopy and microscopy, as well as theoretical approaches, including multiscale modeling of side processes that play a key role in the development of thermal acceleration and explosion, will be used.