Influence of concentration-dependent material properties on the fracture and debonding of electrode particles with core-shell structure

Have you noticed that your phone battery seems to hold less charge than when you first bought it? One key reason is the mechanical fracture of electrode particles inside the lithium-ion battery. Researchers have found that a novel microstructure design, involving surface coating of these particles, can help reduce this degradation. However, figuring out the best material choices, particle sizes, and coating thicknesses usually requires extensive and costly experiments.

In a recent study from the University of Oxford and Imperial College London, scientists have developed a new multiphysics modelling framework to predict the behaviour of coated electrode particles. Unlike traditional models that use constant material properties, this new approach takes into account how lithium concentration affects material properties, providing a more realistic prediction. This exciting research has been published in the Journal of Power Sources.

Authors: Yang Tu, Billy Wu, Weilong Ai, Emilio Martínez-Pañeda

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S037877532400346X