(6lp) Deep characterization boosted next-generation high-performance energy storage systems

Reducing carbon emission and ending the fossil fuel economy require the implementation of clean energies. Batteries will be the most important infrastructures for energy storage and distribution to power up future smart and resilient cities, where high energy, high power, high mobility, and reliable safety is highly demanded. But today’s battery technology is far from satisfactory to support transportation, buildings, homes and grid storage in smart cities. Even though a variety of new materials and novel chemistry have been found to provide ultra-high theoretical capacity in past decades, very few of them has been successfully transferred from lab to market to make an immediate impact to our daily life. One reason is because the majority of these research are limited to “proof of concept” studies in a limited lab scale. In contrast, battery is a complex system with defects in materials and inhomogeneity in manufacturing, along with interphases formed under chemical/electrochemical dynamics during usage, making it tricky from the research perspective to accurately correlate the materials level, electrode level and system level properties together to solve problems across different scales. Without proper emphasizing on statistics across multiple dimensions, experimental data often can be misinterpreted. The mismatch between academic-scale and industrial-scale makes conventional battery R&D run into its bottleneck. Breakthrough relies on deep characterization with new methods, statistical analysis using machine learning, and novel high-precision manufacturing methods.

My Ph.D. research on quantitative diagnosis of lithium metal anode failure is a successful attempt of deep characterization concept. I developed novel multiscale characterization methods to accurately quantify inactive lithium in lithium metal batteries (LMBs), the ideal candidate for high energy density rechargeable batteries, and identified the underlying cause of low Coulombic efficiency in LMBs is unreacted metallic Li, clearing the long-term misconception in the field that solid electrolyte interphase formation is the major cause (Nature, 572, 511–515, 2019). The discovery with the introduced new methods provides paradigm-shifting guidance to the battery research field towards the daily use of LMBs in future transportations (Trends in Chemistry, 1, 152-158, 2019).

My research will be at the core of the forefronts of materials science and hold technological prospects in multiple engineering disciplines, with a focus on sustainable energy and smart grid for future cities. To further address the existing obstacles in fundamental characterization and energy storage systems, my research goal includes two main directions: (1) Advanced characterization to enable quantification, utilizing existing tools in-depth and building new methods to answer key scientific questions and bridging the gap between academia and industry. (2) Advanced battery systems. Combining with quantitative characterization induced fundamental understanding, my research effort will also be put on the rational design of anode-free batteries, which breaks the energy limitation of current battery technology for next-generation transportation, life, and a sustainable economy.

Selected publication:

1. Fang*, J. Li*, M. Zhang, Y. Zhang, F. Yang, J. Z. Lee, M.H. Lee, J. Alvarado, Y. Yang, L. Yang, M. Cai, J. Gu, K. Xu, and Y. S. Meng, “Quantifying inactive lithium in lithium metal batteries”, Nature, 2019, 572, 511–515
2. Fang, X. Wang, Y.S. Meng, “Key issues hindering a practical lithium-metal battery”, Trends in Chemistry, 2019, 1, 152-158
3. A. Wynn*, C. Fang*, M. Zhang, H. Liu, D.M. Davies, X. Wang, D. Lau, J.Z. Lee, K.Z. Fung and Y.S. Meng, “Mitigating oxygen release in anionic-redox-active cathode materials by cationic substitution through rational design”, Journal of Materials Chemistry A, 2018, 6, 24651
4. M. Wood, C. Fang, E. J. Dufek, S. C. Nagpure, S. V. Sazhin, B. Liaw, Y. S. Meng, “Predicting calendar aging in lithium metal secondary batteries: the impacts of solid electrolyte interphase composition and stability”, Advanced Energy Materials, 2018, 8, 1801427
5. Singer, S. Hy, M. Zhang, D. Cela, C. Fang, B. Qiu, Y. Xia, Z. Liu, A. Ulvestad, N. Hua, J. Wingert, H. Liu, M. Sprung, A.V. Zozulya, E. Maxey, R. Harder, Y.S. Meng, O.G. Shpyrko, “Nucleation of dislocations and their dynamics in layered oxides cathode materials during battery charging”, Nature Energy, 2018, 3, 641-674

Teaching interests:

As a teacher and mentor in science and engineering, my goal is to provide students solid fundamental knowledge and technical skillsets thus to build life-long problem-solving abilities. Leading a subgroup of seven people since 2017, I have been mentoring one undergraduate student and four junior graduate students with fruitful results in both research and individual development of the students. With the background of Materials Science and Engineering working on energy storage and conversion systems, I am capable to teach undergraduate and graduate level chemical engineering courses such as Kinetics, Heat Transfer, Thermodynamics, and Mass Transfer. I am also interested to develop new classes such as Sustainable Energy and Electrochemistry for senior undergrads or graduate students.