Stabilization of Lithium Metal Anodes with Porphyrin-based Electrolyte Additives - SLAP

Project summary

The goal of this project is to significantly advance the development of Lithium-Metal-batteries (LMBs). LMBs would provide significantly greater charge storage capacity than the currently leading Lithium-Ion-Battery Technology. However, their commercialization faces multiple obstacles in terms of safety and cycle life due to the formation of lithium metal dendrites on the anode surface. This project is concerned with suppressing dendrite formation with porphyrin-based additives to the electrolyte. In the course of this project, this known effect will be optimized, and the under-lying mechanism will be elucidated. Due to their higher specific energy content, safe LMBs would find immediate use in any of application where LIBs are currently used, e.g. in transportation and stationary power storage. The significance of this strategy lies in the fact that it could be readily adapted for large scale production. This would significantly curtail the implementation period for this technology.