{"id":115059,"date":"2021-06-06T05:03:07","date_gmt":"2021-06-06T05:03:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.controleng.com\/articles\/solid-state-batteries-designed-for-better-performance\/"},"modified":"2025-04-23T18:51:07","modified_gmt":"2025-04-23T23:51:07","slug":"solid-state-batteries-designed-for-better-performance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.controleng.com\/solid-state-batteries-designed-for-better-performance\/","title":{"rendered":"Solid-state batteries designed for better performance"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Solid-state batteries pack a lot of energy into a small space, but their electrodes are not good at keeping in touch with their electrolytes. Liquid electrolytes reach every nook and cranny of an electrode to spark energy, but liquids take up space without storing energy and fail over time. Researchers are now putting solid electrolytes in touch with electrodes made of strategically arranged materials \u2013 at the atomic level \u2013 and the results are helping drive better solid-state battery technologies.<\/p>\n<p>A <a href=\"https:\/\/news.illinois.edu\/view\/6367\/1713475018\">study led by University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/matse.illinois.edu\/\">materials science and engineering<\/a>\u00a0professor\u00a0Paul Braun, postdoctoral research associate Beniamin Zahiri, and Xerion Advanced Battery Corp. director of research and development John Cook, demonstrates how control over the atomic alignment of solid materials can improve the cathode-solid electrolyte interface and stability in solid-state batteries.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWith batteries, it\u2019s not just materials that are important, but also how the atoms on the surfaces of those materials are arranged,\u201d Zahiri said. \u201cCurrently, solid-state battery electrodes contain materials with a large diversity of surface atom arrangements. This leads to a seemingly infinite number of electrode-solid electrolyte contact interface possibilities, all with different levels of chemical reactivity. We are interested in finding which arrangements lead to practical improvements in battery cycle life, energy density and power.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The researchers said an electrolyte\u2019s stability controls how many charging and discharging cycles a battery can handle before it starts to lose power. Because of this, scientists are in a race to find the most stable electrolyte materials.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn the rush to find stable solid electrolyte materials, developers have sort of lost sight of the importance of what is happening in that very thin interface between electrolyte and electrode,\u201d Zahiri said. \u201cBut the stability of the electrolyte will not matter if the connection between it and the electrodes cannot be evaluated in an efficient way.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In the lab, the team built electrodes containing sodium and lithium ions with specific atomic arrangements. They found correlations between battery performance and interface atomic arrangement in both the lithium- and sodium-based solid-state batteries. They also discovered that minimizing the interface surface area and controlling the electrodes\u2019 atomic alignment is key to both understanding the nature of interface instabilities and improving cell performance.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is a new paradigm for how to evaluate all the important solid electrolytes available today,\u201d Cook said. \u201cBefore this, we were largely just guessing what electrode-solid electrolyte interface structures gave the best performance, but now we can test this and find the best combination of materials and atomic orientations.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The researchers said having this level of control gave the researchers the information needed to run atomic simulations that they hypothesize will lead to even better electrolyte materials in the future.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe think this will teach us a lot about how to investigate emerging solid electronics,\u201d Braun said. \u201cWe are not trying to invent new solid electrolytes; the materials world is doing a great job with that already. Our methodology will allow others to precisely measure the interfacial properties of their new materials, something that has otherwise been very difficult to determine.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>&#8211; Edited by Chris Vavra, web content manager,\u00a0<em>Control Engineering<\/em>, CFE Media and Technology, <a href=\"mailto:cvavra@cfemedia.com\">cvavra@cfemedia.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>University of Illinois researchers have learned how control over the atomic alignment of solid materials can improve the cathode-solid electrolyte interface and stability in solid-state batteries, which can improve their performance and quality.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":530,"featured_media":115060,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"pgc_sgb_lightbox_settings":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[107902],"tags":[],"tracking-metrics":[],"display-location":[],"class_list":{"2":"type-post"},"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Solid-state batteries designed for better performance - Control Engineering<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.controleng.com\/solid-state-batteries-designed-for-better-performance\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Solid-state batteries designed for better performance - Control Engineering\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"University of Illinois researchers have learned how control over the atomic alignment of solid materials can improve the cathode-solid electrolyte interface and stability in solid-state batteries, which can improve their performance and quality.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.controleng.com\/solid-state-batteries-designed-for-better-performance\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Control Engineering\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ControlEngineeringMagazine\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-06-06T05:03:07+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-04-23T23:51:07+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.controleng.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/CTL2106_WEB_IMG_Illinois_SolidState_Batteries-Slider.jpeg\" \/>\n\t<meta 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