Yang Wins 2017 RISE Grant

Jul 25 2017

Yuan Yang, Assistant Professor of Materials Science and Engineering in the Department of Applied Physics and Applied Mathematics, and Wei Min, Associate Professor in the Department of Chemistry, were one of six teams selected to receive a 2017 Research Initiatives in Science and Engineering (RISE) grant.

The grant will fund their research project:
Visualizing Ion Transport in Battery Electrolyte by Stimulated Raman Scattering Microscopy.

High-performance rechargeable batteries are indispensable to a broad range of applications, including electric vehicles and grid-level energy storage. Transport of ions in battery electrolyte and their insertion into solid electrodes are critical to battery performance. For example, inhomogeneity of ion flux in the electrolyte can deplete ions locally, which not only reduces energy/power density, but also deteriorates cycling life. Therefore, visualizing and quantifying ion transport in the electrolyte and at the solid-liquid interface will not only provide better understanding of battery processes, but also help design better electrolytes and electrodes to enhance battery performance and safety. Here we propose to use the emerging Stimulated Raman Scattering (SRS) microscopy to realize such 3D imaging of ion transport in the battery electrolyte. SRS microscopy is label-free, and its dual-beam configuration employs the stimulated emission amplification, gaining 100 million times higher sensitivity than the common spontaneous Raman microscopy, which enables fast imaging at second level to resolve the transport dynamics of battery electrolyte. Such studies will deepen our understanding of battery reactions and guide further development of batteries with high performance.

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