Project Team
Students
Milap Mistry
Molecular Biology
Penn State Harrisburg
Faculty Mentors
Abu Asaduzzaman
Penn State Harrisburg
School of Science, Engineering, & Technology
Hilal Ezgi Toraman
Penn State University Park
Energy and Mineral Engineering
Project
Project Video
Project Abstract
The escalating need for clean energy is increasing the demand for large-scale energy storage devices made of earth abundant, cost-effective, and environmentally friendly materials. Lithium-ion batteries, which are currently considered to be the best available and most feasible option for short-to-medium scale energy solutions, are close to reaching the upper limit of their energy density, eliminating them as feasible sources for appliances that require large amounts of energy. Alternative battery technologies with suitable alternative electrodes and electrolyte materials are being researched to meet the goal of energy storage. For instance, sodium ion batteries have emerged as a promising alternative due to the high availability of sodium but demonstrate limited energy density due to the larger size and higher ionization potential of the sodium ions. Recent investigations have demonstrated that open structure electrode materials, such as chalcogels, could better accommodate sodium ions in terms of phase stability. Thus, this project intends to examine and optimize chalcogel materials in order to determine whether they are suitable alternatives to the current electrode material of low energy-density hard carbon in rechargeable lithium ion and sodium ion batteries using molecular dynamics and density functional theory. Currently, we are optimizing the chalcogel structure of and composition of MoSx in order to examine the interactions, migration paths, and activation energy of Li and Na within the optimized compound. Analysis of these results will further elucidate the role of metal ions in chalcogel based lithium and sodium batteries.
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