Accerlerated Discovery of Lithium Battery Materials (Adlib)

The performance of lithium ion cells is currently limited by the positive electrode. In this work, miniature, parallel and automated synthesis and characterisation techniques are proposed to hasten the development of the lithium ion battery by simultaneous examination of up to 500 can electrode materials at the same time. Chemical synthesis, vacuum deposition and pulsed laser ablation techniques will be adapted in order to deposit 64 distinct compositions directly on substrates suitable for parallel crystallographic and electrochemical analysis. Our high-throughput x-ray diffraction system and eight 64-channel electrochemical stations and will produce structure and property data at an unprecedented rate. This will allow a systematic examination of thousands of compounds in ternary, quaternary and even higher dimensional composition fields in our quest for more efficient positive electrodes for lithium ion cells. It should be possible to examine a total of 20,000 individual compositions during the duration of the project. Examination of the systematic variation of structure and properties with composition will refine computational models used by our collaborators to predict new materials with a wider application range. This new approach is already drawing interest from international battery manufacturers and the EPSRC's investment in the proposed programme will secure our current leading position in this technology and attract further support from the EU and elsewhere.