Research Seminar Abstract

Substituting the graphite in today’s commercial Li-ion batteries with high capacity anode materials such as antimony (Sb) could increase the energy stored in such a cell. However, the high capacity of Sb results in large volume changes of the anode during discharge/recharge cycles that mechanically degrade the anode, ultimately causing the cell to fail prematurely. In my graduate research, I’ve explored several strategies to mitigate the deleterious effects of the mechanical degradation in electrodeposited Sb films. Effective mitigation using these strategies identifies them as design principles for high capacity battery anodes in general, and highlights the critical limiting factors in developing next generation batteries.