Despite significant improvements since their first commercialization in 1991, modern rechargeable lithium ion batteries do not fully meet the growing demands of industry in terms of capacity, charge/discharge performance and safety. Higher capacity can be achieved with a lithium metal anode, but lithium dendrites are likely to grow through liquid or gel electrolytes, eventually leading to short circuits and battery failure. Electrochemical cells utilizing solid ceramic or polymer electrolytes can circumvent these issues. Many ceramic electrolytes provide a rigid pathway for lithium-ion migration and show comparatively high conductivity, but suffer from inflexible-interface problems that are inherent with solid ceramic electrolytes.
The Group's work aims to develop a fundamental understanding of the processes taking place in all-solid-state cells and use this knowledge to devise strategies to overcome these challenges.
Prof. Bruce is the Principal Investigator for the Faraday Institution's SOLBAT project.
