LITHIUM-ION BATTERIES MATERIALS: THE STATE OF RESEARCH IN THE UNIVERSITY OF LA PLATA ARGENTINA”

VISINTIN A.; B. CASTRO; REAL S.; G. GARAVENTTA; JORGE THOMAS

Praga

Congreso; THE 63 TH ANNUAL MEETING OF THE INTERNATIONAL SOCIETY OF ELECTROCHEMISTRY (ISE 2012),; 2012

The great challenge of our times is to replace polluting oil energy sources with renewable and clean energies that are ready to be used, which requires addressing the need for proper storage solutions. The lithium-ion batteries would fulfil most of requirements. Is a great opportunity for Argentina for its large production of lithium salts. We are working on the development of techniques for building electrodes with a good response to high discharge currents. Lithium iron phosphates with olivine structures would meet the requirement of energy drain at high current values. The physical characterization was performed by using SEM, TEM, TGA, XRD and EDS techniques. For the electrochemical characterization cyclic voltammetry, charge-discharge cycling, and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy were used. In the project, the doping of these materials with metals like Co and Ni, in order to improve the performance of the electrodes, is also proposed. The synthesized active materials were core-shell nanoparticles with an olivine structure, where the core is composed of LiFePO4 and a shell of carbon. From the electrochemical point of view the electrodes show good reversibility and a storage capacity of around 120mAh/g at low currents and a capacity of 60mAh/g at 10C .A summary of the current technology for lithium-ion batteries, as well as their future prospects, will be presented. Results will be discussed in the Innovation and Technology Transfer Project in Priority Areas of the Universidad Nacional de La Plata (UNLP).