Prof. Dr. Jodie Lutkenhaus

Organic Batteries for Low Temperature Operation

Lithium-ion batteries have been widely used in portable electronic devices for many years. However, these batteries still face significant challenges in harsher and more complex environments such as electric vehicles, aerospace, subsea operations, and power grid systems. Specifically, lithium-ion batteries lose their ability charge and discharge at low temperatures due to freezing of the electrolyte, as well as impeded desolvation of ions at the electrode-electrolyte interface. This talk will focus on redox-active polymers as potential active materials for low-temperature batteries. In the first portion of the talk, a dual-ion battery comprised of copolymer of 2,2,6,6-tetramethyl-piperidenyloxyl-4-yl methacrylate and glycidyl methacrylate (PTMA-co-GMA) and naphthalene tetracarboxylic dianhydride-derived polyimide (PNTCDI) as active materials for the positive and negative electrodes, respectively, is discussed. Using a low-temperature electrolyte, the dual-ion battery exhibited a capacity of 76 mAh g at 1C current, maintaining operability up to 10C current, and delivering 1000 W kg specific power down to -40 °C. The battery maintained 85% capacity at 0°C and 55% capacity at -40 °C. Interestingly, the battery showed near-zero capacity decay while cycling at low temperatures. The second portion of this talk will present a fundamental investigation of energy barriers associated with low temperature operation in organic batteries, illustrating specific cases in which organic batteries can out-perform lithium-ion batteries. Taken together, organic batteries demonstrate a promising path toward earth-abundant energy storage materials for extreme environments.