arXiv subjects

Jonathan N Coleman

Publications and source records attributed to Jonathan N Coleman.

6 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2025

Quantifying the Rate Performance of Potassium-Ion Batteries

Lithium-ion batteries dominate battery research and industry due to their long research history and high energy density. However, increasing demand and limited lithium resources have raised lithium prices and battery costs, motivating interest in alternative chemistries. Potassium-ion batteries have recently attracted attention because potassium is more abundant and potentially lower cost, although the technology remains at an early stage and requires further insight for development. In this work, recently developed methods for rigorous analysis of electrode rate performance are applied to published rate-performance data from a wide range of potassium-ion batteries. Using specific capacity (mAh per g) versus charge and discharge rate curves, performance parameters are extracted to evaluate the applicability of the key model underlying these methods and to analyze opportunities for potassium-ion batteries. Relationships between these parameters and electrode properties are used to interpret performance trends and compare potassium-ion batteries with established technologies. The analysis shows that the model effectively fits potassium-ion battery rate-performance data and allows reliable extraction of performance parameters. While potassium-ion batteries generally exhibit lower specific capacities than lithium-ion and sodium-ion batteries, their upper limit of rate performance is found to exceed that of lithium-ion, sodium-ion, and related two-dimensional material electrodes, despite the larger atomic size and mass of potassium.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2019

Do 2D material-based battery electrodes have inherently poor rate-performance?

Two dimensional materials show great potential for use in battery electrodes and are believed to be particularly promising for high-rate applications. However, there does not seem to be much hard evidence for the superior rate-performance of 2D materials compared to non-2D materials. To examine this point, we have analyzed published rate-performance data for a wide range of 2D materials as well as non-2D materials for comparison. For each capacity-rate curve we extract parameters which quantify performance which can then be analyzed using a simple mechanistic model. Contrary to expectations, by comparing a previously-proposed figure of merit, we find 2D-based electrodes to be on average ~40 times poorer in terms of rate performance than non-2D materials. This is not due to differences in solid-state diffusion times which were similarly distributed for 2D and non-2D materials. In fact, we found the main difference between 2D and non-2D materials to be that ion mobility within the electrolyte-filled pores of the electrodes to be significantly lower for 2D materials, a situation which we attribute to their high aspect ratios.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2019

Quantifying the effect of electrical conductivity on the rate-performance of nanocomposite battery electrodes

While it is well-known that electrode conductivity has a critical impact on rate-performance in battery electrodes, this relationship has been quantified only by computer simulations. Here we investigate the relationship between electrode conductivity and rate-performance in Lithium-Nickel-Manganese-Cobalt-Oxide (NMC) cathodes filled with various quantities of carbon black, single-walled carbon nanotubes and graphene. The electrode conductivity is always extremely anisotropic with the out-of-plane conductivity, which is most relevant to rate-performance, roughly 1000 smaller than the in-plane conductivity. For all fillers the conductivity increases with filler loading although the nanotube-filled electrodes show by far the most rapid increase. Fitting capacity versus rate curves yielded the characteristic time associated with charge/discharge. This parameter increased linearly with the inverse of the out-of-plane conductivity, with all data points falling on the same master curve. Using a simple mechanistic model for the characteristic time, we develop an equation which matches the experimental data almost perfectly with no adjustable parameters. This implies that increasing the electrode conductivity improves the rate-performance by decreasing the RC charging time of the electrode. This model shows the effect of electrode resistance on the rate-performance to become negligible in almost all cases once the out-of-plane conductivity of the electrode exceeds 1 S/m. Our results show that this can be achieved by including <1wt% single-walled carbon nanotubes in the electrode.

physics.chem-ph↗

arXiv2019

Using chronoamperometry to rapidly measure and quantitatively analyse rate-performance in battery electrodes

For battery electrodes, measured capacity decays as charge/discharge current is increased. Such rate-performance is important from a practical perspective and is usually characterised via galvanostatic charge-discharge measurements. However, such measurements are very slow, limiting the number of rate experiments which are practical in a given project. This is a particular problem during mechanistic studies where many rate measurements are needed. Here, building on work by Heubner at al., we demonstrate chronoamperometry (CA) as a relatively fast method for measuring capacity-rate curves with hundreds of data points down to C-rates below 0.01C. While Heubner et al. reported equations to convert current transients to capacity vs. C-rate curves, we modify these equations to give capacity as a function of charge/discharge rate, R. We show that such expressions can be combined with a basic model to obtain simple equations which can fit data for both capacity vs. C-rate and capacity vs. R. We demonstrate that these equations can accurately fit experimental data within normal experimental ranges of rate. However, we also observe that, at high rates, the curves obtained from CA deviate from the normal behaviour showing a new, previously unobserved, decay feature. We associate this feature with the very early part of the current transient where electronic motion dominates the current. Using a simple model, we show that the dependence of the high-rate time constant on electrode thickness can be linked to electrode conductivity.

physics.chem-ph↗

arXiv2018

Quantifying the factors limiting rate-performance in battery electrodes

A significant problem associated with batteries is the rapid reduction of charge-storage capacity with increasing charge/discharge rate. For example, improving this rate-performance is required for fast-charging of car batteries. Rate-performance is related to the timescales associated with charge or ionic motion in both electrode and electrolyte. However, no quantitative model exists which can be used to fit experimental data to give insights into the dominant rate-limiting processes in a given electrode-electrolyte system. Here we develop an equation which can be used to fit capacity versus rate data, outputting three parameters which fully describe rate-performance. Most important is the characteristic time associated with charge/discharge which can be expressed by a simple equation with terms describing each rate-limiting process, thus linking rate-performance to measurable physical parameters. We have fitted these equations to ~200 data sets from ~50 papers, finding exceptional agreement, and allowing parameters such as diffusion coefficients or electrolyte conductivities to be extracted. By estimating relevant physical parameters, it is possible to show which rate-limiting processes are dominant in a given situation, facilitating rational design and cell optimization. In addition, this model predicts the upper speed limit for Li/Na ion batteries, in agreement with the fastest electrodes in the literature.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2017

Probing the local nature of excitons and plasmons in few-layer MoS2

Excitons and plasmons are the two most fundamental types of collective electronic excitations occurring in solids. Traditionally, they have been studied separately using bulk techniques that probe their average energetic structure over large spatial regions. However, as the dimensions of materials and devices continue to shrink, it becomes crucial to understand how these excitations depend on local variations in the crystal- and chemical structure on the atomic scale. Here we use monochromated low-loss scanning-transmission-electron-microscopy electron-energy-loss (LL-STEM-EEL) spectroscopy, providing the best simultaneous energy and spatial resolution achieved to-date to unravel the full set of electronic excitations in few-layer MoS2 nanosheets over a wide energy range. Using first-principles many-body calculations we confirm the excitonic nature of the peaks at ~2eV and ~3eV in the experimental EEL spectrum and the plasmonic nature of higher energy-loss peaks. We also rationalise the non-trivial dependence of the EEL spectrum on beam and sample geometry such as the number of atomic layers and distance to steps and edges. Moreover, we show that the excitonic features are dominated by the long wavelength (q=0) components of the probing field, while the plasmonic features are sensitive to a much broader range of q-vectors, indicating a qualitative difference in the spatial character of the two types of collective excitations. Our work provides a template protocol for mapping the local nature of electronic excitations that open new possibilities for studying photo-absorption and energy transfer processes on a nanometer scale.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗