In the last semester of my undergraduate education, I joined a research team to tackle some leading research topics with batteries. Electrification is the way of the future and making batteries as efficient as possible is key to transitioning from fossil fuels.

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Currently, Lithium-Ion batteries dominate the market. However, there is a much more efficient type of battery; the Lithium-Metal battery. These batteries have a higher theoretical energy density and power output than Lithium-Ion Batteries.

 

However, Lithium-Metal batteries are not reliable or safe for mass production due to the tendency for lithium dendrite growth. Dendrites are needle-like/porous metal microstructures that form on the current collecting surface. These small structures in the battery grow with every charge and discharge cycle and they have a tendency to short circuit the battery and cause fires.

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Our goal as a research team was to model the growth of these dendrites to understand how they behave under different conditions (Copper and Gold Substrates shown below). Figures 1-3 display the findings from Dendrites and Pits: Untangling the Complex Behavior of Lithium Metal Anodes through Operando Video Microscopy [1]. Figures 4-5 show our FEA modeling in MATLAB to reproduce findings in the paper.

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[1] Wood KN, Kazyak E, Chadwick AF, Chen KH, Zhang JG, Thornton K, Dasgupta NP. Dendrites and Pits: Untangling the Complex Behavior of Lithium Metal Anodes through Operando Video Microscopy. ACS Cent Sci. 2016 Nov 23;2(11):790-801. doi: 10.1021/acscentsci.6b00260. Epub 2016 Oct 14. PMID: 27924307; PMCID: PMC5126712.