SummerLIB: fundamentals, materials and applications of lithium-ion batteries

CIVIS focus area: Climate, environment and energy
Open to: Master's

PhD candidates/ students
Field of studies: Engineering & Technology

Natural Sciences and Mathematics
Type: Short-term
Course dates: 11 - 22 July 2022

Energy storage is an enabling technology that can save consumers money, integrate different energy generation sources, and help reduce environmental impacts. There is a huge demand for improved energy storage media related to areas like the automotive industry or the use of green energy sources. The requirements of the fight against climate change and global warming have boosted the research in this area in recent years. Lithium-ion batteries (LIB) play a fundamental role in renewable energy storage technology since they are already widely used in current consumer electronics and their demand for powering the internet of things (IoT) and in electric and hybrid vehicles is growing rapidly. However, the development and improvement of LIBs require the training of specialized scientists and the investment of huge research efforts.

Objectives

Delve into the key aspects of the physical-chemical fundamentals and applications of LIBs and participate in the advanced training of the next generation of European scientists, providing the necessary background to contribute to the development of decarbonised socio-economic systems to stabilize the climate.

Main topics addressed

Fundamentals of lithium-ion batteries: Batteries, Energy storage, Li-ion Batteries (LIBs)
The current state of the art of LIBs
LIBs components (anodes, cathodes, electrolytes, separators): commonly used materials and new alternatives for electrochemical performance improvement.
LIBs analysis and characterization: chemistry and electrochemistry. Coulombic and energy efficiency. Structure and morphology of LIBs components. Advanced characterization techniques of materials and interfaces for LIB components (XPS, SECCM, in-operando SAXS/WAXS, etc). Post-Mortem analysis.
Next-generation batteries: nanomaterials and membranes for LIBs. Metallic lithium anodes. Solid-State Batteries. Post-lithium-ion batteries (Na ion, metal-sulfur, redox flow...).
The environmental and cost assessment of LIBs: environmental impact of LIBs. Cost-effective fabrication methods of new battery materials. Battery failure mechanisms. Risk and safety issues. Battery recycling and sustainable innovation.

Learning outcomes

The students will learn about the fundamentals and state-of-the-art of LIBs in the online lectures of the first week. Furthermore, they will have the opportunity to receive advanced research training in a laboratory from a partner CIVIS university. The experience and knowledge gained through this research-oriented education activity will expand their research abilities. The students will be ready to apply the learnt experimental protocols and methods in their own laboratories, expanding the research collaboration between the participating CIVIS universities.

Language: English (B1)	Dates: Week 1 (Online lectures): 11-15 July Week 2 (Experimental Project): 18-22 July*
Format: blended	Duration of the course: 2 weeks
ECTS: 4	N° of CIVIS scholarships: 20
Coordinators:	Celia Polop & Carmen Morant CIVIS.SummerLIB@uam.es

Schedule

This CIVIS summer school is organised in both online and face-to-face classes. It will be running for a total of 2 weeks.

Week 1

During the first week, 11-15 July 2022, the school will offer online lectures that will convey the state-of-the-art in the field (20 hours). The fundamentals of LIBs and research highlights in the LIBs technology will be introduced. Likewise, the emerging new materials for their electrodes and electrolytes, their characterization with state-of-the-art techniques, and the development of advanced LIBs will be presented.

Download the Week 1 lecture programme

Week 2

During the second week, the students will develop an experimental project in small groups in a non-home CIVIS university, making use of the top-level experimental facilities of the participant laboratories (20 hours). Students from Africa can optionally develop their projects at their home universities.

The students will have the opportunity to develop one of the following projects:

Elaboration and characterization of ionic conductive membrane for Li-ion batteries, Aix-Marseille Université, 5-9 Sept 2022
Journey from the individual components to a running LIB, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, 18-22 July 2022
Experimental study of new electrode and electrolyte materials for LIBs and their recycling, Università di Roma La Sapienza, 18-22 July 2022
Fabrication and physical properties of thin films for energy storage applications: battery, University of the Witwatersrand, 25-29 July 2022

The details of the projects will be sent by email to the scholarship students.

Requirements

This CIVIS course is open to Master's and PhD CIVIS students that are enrolled or interested in one of the following fields of study: physics, chemistry, engineering or materials science. A B1 level of English is also required.

Students from CIVIS African partner universities (University of the Witwatersrand from Johannesburg and Al-Azhar University from Cairo) can also apply for the course. They will optionally have the possibility to develop their project at their home university as they are not eligible for CIVIS scholarships.

Application process

Interested students should apply by sending an e-mail with a short CV and a motivational letter to CIVIS.SummerLIB@uam.es.

The application deadline is 31 March 2022. Selected students will be notified before 8 April 2022.

Assessment

Students will be assessed based on the following evaluation criteria:
Course attendance and active participation
Development of the experimental work in the host group
Presentation of a final report (week 2)

For your information, a list of possible experimental projects will be sent to the selected students before 8 April 2022.
Participants will be asked to send their selection for two experimental projects (first and second option) before 15 April 2022.
The list of assigned experimental projects will be communicated to the participants on 1 May 2022.

GDPR Consent

The CIVIS alliance and its member universities will treat the information you provide with respect. Please refer to our privacy policy for more information on our privacy practices. By applying to this course you agree that we may process your information in accordance with these terms.

Carlo Mariani

Sapienza Università di Roma, Dipartimento di Física.

X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS) as a tool for the quantitative and chemical analysis of materials.

Carmen Morant

Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Dpto. Física Aplicada.

Development of improved anode materials for Li-ion batteries based on 1D and 2D nanomaterial composites. Synthesis, characterization, and evaluation as Li batteries electrodes.

Celia Polop

Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Dpto. Física de la Materia Condensada.

Scanning force microscopy for energy materials. Stress, defects, and mechanical properties of LIB components.

Daniel Wamwangi

University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, School of Physics.

Materials science with a focus on energy materials from thin films to bulk. Thin-film batteries and electrodes.

Enrique García Michel

Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Física de la Materia Condensada.

Electron Spectroscopies applied for the analysis of Li-ion batteries electrodes.

Florence Vacandio

Aix-Marseille Université, Département Chimie.

Li-ion and Zn-air micro batteries. Materials synthesis by electrochemical surface nano structuration, deposition of coatings by electrochemical techniques (electrodeposition, electropolymerization) and by sputtering (PVD).

Maria Assunta Navarra

Sapienza Università di Roma, Dipartimento di Chimica.

Synthesis, characterization and validation in lab-scaled prototypes of electrode and electrolyte materials for lithium batteries. Development of safe electrolytes (e.g., polymer and solid-state ion conductors, ionic liquids) and high voltage cathodes.

Philippe Knauth

Aix-Marseille Université, Département Chimie.

Solid ionic conductors for energy and environment, especially ion conduction at solid interfaces, nanoceramics and ion-conducting polymers.

Pilar Ocón

Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Dpto. Química Física Aplicada.

Development of catalysts and ion exchange membranes for polymer membrane fuel cells. Evaluation and synthesis of battery materials: metal/air, lithium-ion and lead-acid batteries.

Zakaria M. Abd El-Fattah

Al-Azhar University, Faculty of Science.

Surface science and nanotechnology. Electronic structure of metallic superlattices, Rashba alloys and 2D materials, using surface science techniques, such as angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES).