Artificial Interface Coatings for High-Energy Li-ion batteries

Advances in energy storage are required to transition to green energy production.  One major bottleneck in the development of new batteries is the integration of highly reactive components.  Materials such as NMC, for example, show high capacities and operate at higher potentials than existing commercial batteries.  However, these materials degrade during the processing steps in battery manufacturing and can further react during the operation of batteries.  One solution to this is to coat the materials with protective thin films, but this is not a simple task.  These films must protect the material while not impeding the performance of the battery.  The processing used to apply the films must also not degrade the components. 

The Ph.D. candidate in this project will focus on developing and characterizing new deposition techniques for coating battery components with a variety of materials.  The candidate will gain working knowledge of atomic layer deposition, sputtering, thermal evaporation, electrochemical characterization, thin film metrology, and gain cutting edge knowledge on the future generations of battery technologies.  New deposition processes, such as Condensed Layer Deposition, will also be investigated through the course of this project.  At imec you will collaborate with other Ph.D. students, researchers, scientific directors, and institutions to succeed in your projects.