Challenging the Debye-Hückel theory for better battery design
Distinguished Research Seminar Series
-
Date
16 Dec 2024
-
Organiser
Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering, PolyU
-
Time
10:30 - 12:00
-
Venue
FJ302
Speaker
Prof Atsuo Yamada
Summary
In any electrochemical system, electrode potential is the central variable that regulates the driving force of redox reactions. However, quantitative under- standing of the electrolyte dependence has been limited to the classic Debye- Hückel theory that approximates the Coulombic interactions in the electrolyte under the dilute limit conditions. Therefore, accurate expression of electrode potential for practical electrochemical systems has been a holy grail of electrochemistry research for over a century. Here we show that the ‘liquid Madelung potential’ based on the conventional explicit treatment of solid- state Coulombic interactions enables quantitatively accurate expression of the electrode potential, with the Madelung shift obtained from molecular dynamics reproducing a hitherto-unexplained huge experimental shift for the lithium metal electrode. Furthermore, incorporating the effects of entropy and induced polarization could polish the theoretical model to perfectly fit the experimental data. Thus, a long-awaited method for the description of the electrode potential in any electrochemical system is now available.
Keynote Speaker
Prof Atsuo Yamada
Professor
Department of Chemical Systems Engineering
The University of Tokyo
Atsuo Yamada has unique career covering both academic and industrial research. After serving as a laboratory head of Sony Research Center, he was immediately appointed as an associate professor at Tokyo Institute of Technology in 2002, a full professor of the University of Tokyo in 2009. During the period, he joined the John. B. Goodenough’s lab. in University of Texas at Austin as a visiting scholar for one year, and was called for sabbatical stay from University of Bordeaux as an invited professor to enhance research communication with Dr. Claude Delmas in ICMCB/CNRS. His diverse research works on battery materials, particularly recognized for sophisticated approaches for structure-property relationships, include very early-stage exploration/optimization of LFP and more recently, identification and understanding of several functional electrolytes. He holds 95 patents, published 25 chapters and well over 280 refereed journal papers with total citation exceeding 37,000, delivering 150 plenary/keynote/invited presentations, and ranked as a Highly Cited Researcher by Clarivate Analytics, and now serving for the scientific advisory board of Advanced Energy Materials. Among his many honors, Atsuo has been awarded the Spriggs Award and the Purdy Award from ACerS, the Scientific Achievement Award from ECS Japan, and IBA Research Award from International Battery Association, Battery Division Research Award from the Electrochemical Society､and Science &Technology award from MEXT Minister.
You may also like
