"Giant Battery Innovation" seminar focused on cathode material"

You are very welcome to participate in the Inaugural "Giant Battery Innovation" seminar focused on cathode material" on Feb. 26^th in ESRF Auditorium

CEA, ILL and ESRF propose a first seminar on battery characterization with a presentation from Pierre-Etienne Cabelguen (Umicore). UMICORE company is a worldwide industrial leader in layered cathode materials for Li-ion batteries.

Lithium-ion battery technology and market are driven by the automotive industry, which requires higher energy densities and less exposure to critical materials. Positive electrodes rely on layered oxides LiNixMnyCo1-x-yO2, and the industry is aiming to higher nickel content as the performances increase with nickel and less, expensive and critical, cobalt is used. However, high nickel content induces phase transitions upon charging which are difficult to characterize and control in micrometric, polycrystalline, agglomerates.

The characteristics (homogeneity within the microstructure, reversibility, induced stress…) of these phase transitions have limited for a long time the NMC family to low-nickel materials. It is only thanks to systematic studies, supported by advanced characterizations, that NMC materials containing 60% nickel have been commercialized, and intense R&D efforts from the industry and universities are still needed to reach higher nickel content. 

Agenda:
09:00-09:45 Invited talk from UMICORE

09:45-10:15 Round table discussion: How the large scale facilities can help the industry to develop better electrode materials? What techniques are most suitable for battery development? What new techniques would be usefull to better characterize such materials?

10:15-12:00 Optional ESRF and ILL visit

If you need access to ESRF/ILL campus, please contact Jakub Drnec (drnec@esrf.fr). If you are interested in the facilities visit, please let us know and we can arrange 1hr tour around the ILL, ESRF ring and the beamlines.

The organizing committee,

Duncan Atkins, Lise Daniel, Jakub Drnec, Sandrine Lyonnard, Samuel Tardif, Tao Zhou