Project Info
Increasing the capacity of battery materials through rational substitutions
Eve Mozur
evemozur@mines.edu
Project Goals and Description:
Many renewable energy feedstocks are intermittent - the wind doesn't always blow and the sun doesn't shine at night. When implementing these technologies, we therefore need energy storage materials. Currently, we rely on lithium ion batteries that have limited capacity. The goal of this project is to develop methods to increase the capacity of lithium and sodium ion battery materials through rational substitution. Known high capacity battery materials suffer from poor reversibility due to volume changes and high energy barriers. We will consider several chemistries to circumvent these challenges.
More Information:
Grand Challenge: Make solar energy economical.
https://people.mines.edu/evemozur/
Primary Contacts:
Eve Mozur evemozur@mines.edu
Student Preparation
Qualifications
Students will need to have taken General Chemistry and preference will be given to students who have completed or are taking MTGN 211 - Structures of Materials or a comparable course.
TIME COMMITMENT (HRS/WK)
4-5
SKILLS/TECHNIQUES GAINED
Students will gain skills in:
- preparation of materials
- structural characterization of materials (e.g. diffraction)
- presenting data (e.g. graphs and figures)
- electrochemistry
MENTORING PLAN
The student will become a member of both the Mozur Research Group and Maughan Research Group, and therefore will be mentored by Dr. Mozur and Dr. Maughan directly as well as graduate students working on similar projects. Mentoring activities will include meeting as a research group, meeting one-on-one with Dr. Mozur and Dr. Maughan, and training in laboratory skills. We aim to have clear expectations for all members of the research groups, including setting reasonable and achievable research goals that we are able to modify according to the progress of projects.
PREFERRED STUDENT STATUS
Sophomore
Junior
Senior