Structural Design and Processing of Quasi-Amorphous & CrystallineLi-Garnet Filmsfor Solid State Batteries and Environmental Sensing of Chemicals

Speaker: Jennifer Rupp

Affiliation: Massachusetts Institute of Technology, MIT

Title: Structural Design and Processing of Quasi-Amorphous & CrystallineLi-Garnet Filmsfor Solid State Batteries and Environmental Sensing of Chemicals

Abstract:

Next generation of energy storage and sensors may largely benefit from fast Li⁺ ceramic electrolyte conductors to allow for safe and efficient batteries and real-time monitoring anthropogenic CO₂. Recently, Li-solid state conductors based on Li-garnet structures received attention due to their fast transfer properties and safe operation over a wide temperature range. Through this presentation basic theory and history of Li-garnets will first be introduced and critically reflected towards new device opportunities demonstrating that these electrolytes may be the start of an era to not only store energy or sense the environment but also to emulate environmental data and information based on simple electrochemistry device architecture twists.

In the first part we focus on the fundamental investigation of the electro-chemo-mechanic characteristics and design of disordered to crystallizing Li-garnet structure types and their description. Understanding the fundamental transport in solid state and asking the provokative question: how do Li-amorphous to crystalline structures conduct?

New insights on degree of amorphous to crystalline Li-garnet thin films are presented based on model experiments of the structure types. We first fundamentally examine and discuss the different amorphous phases and near order structures that Li-garnets can have being no Zachariasen glasses, and how those differ to other more established glass type Li-conductors such as LIPON, which can form Zachariasen glasses. The thermodynamic stability range of maximum Li-conduction, phase, nucleation and growth of nanostructure is discussed using high resolution TEM studies, near order Raman investigations on the Li-bands and electrochemical transport measurements.

In a second part, we focus on new processing opportunities to Lithiate thin film structures in crystalline state and to assure cubic and fast conducting garnet structures for thin film form. For this we will review the field of thin film processing and structure-property for garnet type films and reflect our recent new processing routes based on vacuum and wet-chemical techniques.

The insights provide novel aspects of glass and ceramic thin film processing and material structure designs for both the Li-garnet structures (bulk to films) and their interfaces to electrodes, which we either functionalize to store energy for next generation solid state batteries or … make new applications such as Li-operated CO₂ sensor tracker chips which we present in a final part.

Biography:

Prof. Jennifer Rupp is the Thomas Lord Associate Professor of Electrochemical Materials at the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, and Associate Professor at the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at MIT. Prior she is a non-tenure track assistant professor at ETH Zurich Switzerland where she was holding two prestigeous externally funded career grants, namely an ERC Starting Grant (SNSF) and Swiss National Science Foundation (SNF) professorship.

She previously was affiliated as a visiting and senior scientist at the MIT (2012-2011), the National Institute of Materials Science (NIMS) in Tsukuba Japan (2011), and was working as a postdoc at ETH Zurich (2010-2006). Rupp team`s current research interests are on processing of ceramic and glass materials, solid state material design and tuning of structure-property relations for novel energy and information devices and operation schemes. This ranges from alternative energy storage via solid state batteries, solar-to-synthetic fuel conversion or novel types of neuromorphic memories and computing logic entities for data storage and transfer beyond transistors and new sensing functions to track chemicals in the environment. Here, her team goes the whole way from material design, novel processing techniques to make ceramics, cermets or glassy-type ceramic structures up to novel device prototypes, their operation and characteristics.

She has published more then 81 papers, holds 10 patents, and enjoys to be active discussing material tech trends on the theme of energy with the public, economists and policy makers being a frequent speaker and panel member of the World Economic Forum. Rupp enjoys to be active with several companies all around the world through both, consultancy and collaborations, focused either on material processing business or electrochemical device & product engineering (e.g. battery, oil&fuel processing, sensing, electronic companies). Currently, she holds a position as associate editor at Journal of Materials Chemistry A, and is also an advisory board member for Advanced Functional Materials and Advanced Materials Interfaces.

Rupp and team received several honors and awards such as Displaying Future Awards by the company Merck KGaA 2018 for a glucose converting fuel cell chip, BASF and Volkswagen Science Award 2017 for battery research, “Top 40 international scientist under the age of 40” by World Economic Forum 2015, Spark Award for the most innovative and economically important invention of the year 2014 at ETH Zurich, Kepler award “new materials in energy technology” by the European Academy of Science 2012 or Young Scientist Award by the Solid State Ionic Society. She gave keynote lectures at Royal Society UK 2018, Nature Energy conference 2016, Gordon Research lecture 2014 and many others, also she presented on battery and energy technologies at the World Economic Forum 2017.