Cycling Effects on Battery Anode Structure for a High Entropy Oxide
Authors:
- Students:
- Jessica An
- Nathan Bellows
- Kristen Castelino
- Trinity Choi
- Tyler Dashnaw
- Shiza Dawood
- Jaden Frese
- Tali Gankin
- Crosby des Groseilliers
- Zachary Johnson
- Anna Koziol
- Peter Krosniak
- Patrick Kuprewicz
- Luca Piekarski
- Teachers:
- Jeff Rylander
- Mentors:
- Carlo Segre (Illinois Institute of Technology, Advanced Photon Source, Sector 10-BM)
- Otavio Marques (Illinois Institute of Technology)
Advanced Photon Source Sector 10: MRCAT
While reversible energy storage technology has improved over the past few decades, the need for batteries that can store greater amounts of energy and last longer has grown as well. This research focuses on high entropy oxides (HEO) as a promising battery material. This experiment involved the creation of an anode half-cell composed of Al2O3, Fe2O3, Cr2O3, Mn2O3, and NiO. Five anodes were made by mixing, ball milling, and annealing these powders to create (Al0.2Fe0.2Cr0.2Mn0.2Ni0.2)3O4. Based on the thesis work of Christina Rost, the team was confident that the anodes material took on the desired spinel structure. After forming the HEO slurry, a thin layer of the compound a was ‘painted’ onto aluminum foil and then hand-punch it into coin cell-sized anodes. An automatic cycler was used to charge and discharge the half-cells through a specified number of cycles. The anodes were then removed from the batteries and EXAFS data were collected. It was determined that this HEO is indeed a candidate for battery anode material.