Doctorate Programme on Emerging Battery Storage Technology INspiring Young scientists
European Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions COFUND PhD Programme
Topic 01-03 : Multiscale Modeling for the Optimization of the Manufacturing and Interfaces in Solid State Batteries
This PhD has two objectives.
It first aims at developing a reliable and experimental validated time-dependent three-dimensional model able to predict the impact of manufacturing parameters (calendering pressure and temperature) on the SSB composite electrode mesostructure. Such a model will be based on the Discrete Element Method (DEM), accounting for mechanical interactions between the SSBs active material, electrolyte and additive particles upon calendering. It will allow at gaining insights about the influence of the manufacturing parameters (e.g. calendering pressure and speed) on the interfaces ‘development between the constituent materials (active material, electrolyte, additives). It will also allow to predict the impact of composition, particle size and shape on the final electrode mesostructures. The DEM model will be experimentally-validated through descriptors such as the composite electrode conductivities and mechanical properties (measured by micro-indentation).
The second aim is to incorporate the calculated electrode mesostructures into a performance model allowing to spatially resolve the influence of the interfaces’ localization on the overall electrochemical responses. The latter will be validated on the basis of electrochemical experiments. Such integration of the predicted electrode mesostructures into the performance simulator falls into a ""sequential linking"" multiscale modeling strategy (output of the first model constitutes the input of the second model). Ultimately, the experimentally-validated computational strategy developed in this PhD thesis should be able to provide guidelines for processing optimization for maximizing the right interfaces between the composite electrode constituent materials. Secondment will take in UMICORE for 3 months where the Ph.D student will synthetize materials and prepair electrodes to be tested in his PhD.
