Nanoionics in merging energy storage technologies
新兴能源存储技术中的纳米离子学
Yang Xu（徐杨）
ABSRACT
Na-ion and K-ion battery (NIB and KIB) are merging energy storage technologies and have received rapidly increasing academic and industrial interest. This is driven by the increasing market of electric vehicles and large-scale stationary energy storage, as well as the promise of the NIB and KIB technologies to integrate renewable energy into the grid and provide electricity at rural areas for off-grid utilisation. The core challenge to develop the NIB and KIB technologies is to enhance the nanoionics of battery materials, because the large size of Na- and K-ion causes poor kinetics of ion transport and results in poor ion storage performance. This talk presents our work in material design at different length scales to take on the challenge of nanoionics. I will discuss the design in the short atomic arrangement via creating local atomic disorder and in the long atomic arrangement via regulation the level of amorphisation. The design significantly enhances the nanoionics of battery materials through creating ion transport pathways and facilitating ion accommodation and diffusion, which could provide insight into material designs for energy applications where nanoionics is of great importance.
钠/钾离子电池由于其在资源与成本上的独特优势，已成为目前广受关注的新兴电化学能源存储技术，在电动汽车、大规模能源存储、可再生能源的电网集成、以及偏远地区的用电供应等领域展现了广阔的应用前景。然而钠/钾离子较大的离子半径严重限制了电极材料中的离子传输动力学，为相应离子电池的性能优化带来了巨大的挑战。因此，我们借助于纳米离子学的指导，对钠/钾离子传输机制与过程进行了深入探索，通过多尺度的设计，如局部无序度与长程无序度调控，筛选了一系列高性能电极材料，获得了高效稳定的钠/钾离子电池。相关的研究结果表明，纳米离子学的指导原则能有效缓解钠/钾离子大尺寸的负面影响，大幅提高钠/钾离子扩散系数，为高性能钠/钾离子电池材料的设计提供了适应性新思路。
BIOGRAPHY
Dr Yang Xu is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Chemistry at University College London. His group is interested in designing and synthesising materials as well as understanding ion transport and storage at the nanometre scale for beyond-lithium energy storage technologies. The group is exploiting a wide range of materials with characteristic crystal structures and atomic arrangements (local defects, short- and long-range disorder) and investigating the correlations between the characteristics and the (electro)chemical processes occurring at electrode-electrolyte interface and in solid electrodes. Dr Xu has been actively working on energy storage materials and devices for over 10 years and is one of the pioneering scientists in the field of K-ion batteries. He is the recipient of the MINE Outstanding Young Scientist Award 2019 and the EPSRC (UK) New Investigator Award. In addition, he serves as a reviewer for internationally leading journals and was awarded an Outstanding Reviewer for Inorganic Chemistry Frontiers in 2016 and Best Reviewer for Science China Chemistry in 2019.
徐杨教授任职于英国伦敦大学学院化学系，长期从事钠/钾/高价离子电池电极材料设计与储能机制的研究工作。课题组致力于推动发展不同尺度下原子排列无序度优化策略，解析电化学离子存储过程中的物理过程和化学反应，理解电极材料的构效关系，在钾离子电池领域做出了特别积极的贡献。徐杨教授曾获MINE青年科学家奖，英国工程和物理科学研究委员会New Invesitgator Award，Inorganic Chemitry Frontiers和Science China Chemistry优秀审稿人等奖项。