EXPERIMENTAL STUDY OF AlF3 IN GRAPHITE FOR APPLICATIONS IN ALUMINIUM- BASED INTERCALATION BATTERIES.

CANDIA, A.E.; RODRÍGUEZ, S.J.; ALBANESI, E.A.; M CG PASSEGGI; G RUANO

virtual

Encuentro; encontro de outono 2021; 2021

Sociedade brasileira de fisica

The study and development of rechargeable energy storage systems such as batteries [1],fuel cell [2], electrochemical capacitors and solar cells, among others [3,4], has attractedconsiderable attention in recent years. In particular, the rechargeable graphite-based ionbatteries are considered a promising alternative for energy storage applications easilyadapted to industry, and nowadays are one of the most studied and widely knowntechnologies. Basically, the battery charge/discharge mechanism results from theintercalation/de-intercalation of atoms, ions or molecules in a cathode material and it is ofutmost importance to investigate the materials that are used as electrodes as well as theatoms/molecules that are intercalated. One of the most used materials to buildcathodes/anodes in batteries is graphite since its layered structure is highly configurable,being able to accommodate a variety of ions/ molecules to form intercalation compounds.In this work, we present an experimental study of the intercalation process of aluminiumfluoride (AlF3) in highly oriented pyrolytic graphite (HOPG) by direct evaporation at roomtemperature and under ultra-high vacuum conditions, taking advantage of a variety ofsurface analysis techniques. We characterize the system in different instances of AlF3dosing by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), scanning tunneling microscopy (STM),Auger Electron Spectroscopy (AES) and Rutherford backscattered ion spectroscopy(RBS). The interpretation of our results was assisted by ab-initio calculations in the densityfunctional formalism (DFT). We determined that the interlayer diffusion process in graphitedominates over adsorption and the penetration thickness in the substrate is controlled bythe amount of surface defects.