“Why would Telsa Motors partner with some Canadian?”

Jeff Dahn, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Canada

11 a.m. on Wednesday, April 20th, Robotics Manufacturing Building (RMB) Room 323 

Abstract: Lithium-ion batteries are amazing.  They power our phones, tools and now vehicles.  Unfortunately they eventually die.  Creating a Li-ion cell that lasts a long time (decades) is very difficult but proving that it will is much more difficult.  I will discuss the reasons why Li-ion batteries die and how advanced diagnostics can be used to select new electrolyte formulations that improve the lifetime of Li-ion cells to the decades-long scale.  Tesla will enter into a 5 year research partnership with us in June 2016.  

Prof. Dahn is recognized as one of the pioneering developers of lithium-ion batteries.  His recent research concentrates on the application of combinatorial materials science methods to battery and fuel cell problems.  

http://www.dal.ca/diff/dahn.html

This seminar is hosted by the NSF EPSCoR award through the Energy Storage Seminar Series in Pillar 3.

contact: Susan Odom, Department of Chemistry

"Electron-Donating Phenothiazines for Energy Storage Applications"

Prof. Susan A. Odom

Department of Chemistry, University of Kentucky

Phenothiazine derivatives have seen widespread use as stable electron-donating organic compounds with generally stable oxidized states, which makes them an attractive core for functionalization for use in electrochemical energy storage applications. With phenothiazine itself as a starting material, functionalization of the 3, 7, and 10 positions is facile, providing options to modify redox potentials and improve stability in both the neutral and singly oxidized (radical cation) states. Additionally, this ring system can be built from aryl amines and aryl bromides, allowing for the production of compounds with even more functionalization, including incorporating groups at the 1 and 9 positions and – in some cases – at every sp₂-hybridized C atom in the aromatic core. In many cases, computational studies have predicted what we have observed experimentally, and often guides our design of next-generation materials. This presentation focuses on the characterization of phenothiazine derivatives, both from experimental and computational approaches, and includes results from their incorporation into lithium-ion batteries as electrolyte additives for overcharge protection as well as studies toward using them in non-aqueous redox flow batteries as catholytes. 

This seminar is part of the 2015-16 Energy Storage Seminar Series at UK supported by NSF EPSCoR under Award No. 1355438.