Proposition of Post-Doctoral position in Centre de Recherche sur la Matière Divisée (CRMD), Orléans, France

 

Project HIPASCAP : HIgh Power Asymmetric SuperCAPacitor in organic electrolyte

 

Nowadays, improving the energy efficiency of systems is an important objective for reducing fossil fuel consumption and CO2 emissions. Electrochemical energy storage systems are able to take an important part in this strategy, allowing lost energy to be recovered and further delivered on demand. Two types of electrochemical energy storage devices are available: accumulators and electric double-layer capacitors (EDLCs). Accumulators have a high energy density but a low power density, whereas EDLCs are able to deliver a high power, but their energy density is relatively low.

 

 Based on previous works of the CRMD laboratory, the idea of the HIPASCAP project is to develop an industrial model of hybrid capacitor able to outperform the presently commercialized EDLCs in terms of energy density while keeping similar power density and cycle life. The hybrid capacitor combines lithium-ion battery type and electric double-layer materials for the negative and positive electrodes, respectively, while using alkycarbonates as electrolyte. Such a system is able to display twice the capacitance of an EDLC and a larger voltage; consequently, it results in a higher energy density than an EDLC, while being safer.

 

 The HIPASCAP multidisciplinary project involves 3 academic partners and 2 industrial partners. One important task of the project will be to select electrode materials and electrolytes which allow high power density and cycle life to be withstood for fulfilling the requirements imposed by the supercapacitors producer involved in the project.  Two kinds of cells will be developed: i) laboratory-type coffee-bag cells which will allow the optimized components (electrode materials, electrolyte, separator) to be implemented in a system mimicking the industrial ones; ii) small industrial demonstration cells allowing the real performance of this new type of device to be established.

 

In the project, the Post-Doctoral fellow will optimise and transform carbon materials. Various physico-chemical methods will be used for characterizing the structure and nanotexture of carbons. A very careful electrochemical characterization of the materials will be necessary. These materials will be implemented in laboratory test supercapacitors (coffee-bag cells). Various electrochemical techniques will be used for the performance estimation. The electrochemical results will be compared with the physico-chemical characteristics in order to define optimization strategies. The optimised materials will be further implemented in supercapacitor prototypes. The fellow will also participate to the design of in-situ cells for  7Li NMR experiments.

 

This work programme is recommended for a candidate specialized in materials science and electrochemistry. The multi-disciplinary approach of this work will allow the fellow to develop various competencies as well in fundamental science and in industrial applications.

 

Contacts :

 

Professor François Béguin

Tel : ++33 238255375 ; mail : beguin@cnrs-orleans.fr

 

Doctor Encarnacion Raymundo-Pinero,

Tel : ++33 238255361 ; mail : raymundo@cnrs-orleans.fr