Cell models to quantify, predict, and understand battery degradation

A fully funded 3.5 year PhD studentship in Physical Chemistry is available under the supervision of Professor Harry Hoster in the Department of Chemistry at Lancaster University, commencing autumn 2018 or earlier. You will be part of the newly launched “Multi-Scale Modelling” project (lead by Imperial College) within the UK Faraday Institution and you will also work with the battery R&D team at BMW headquarters in Munich.

The battery is the most expensive component of an electric vehicle. And the question how soon a battery will have to be replaced is an economically crucial one. Battery technology is improving rapidly, which is positive, but this also demands lifetime predictions for periods of > 5 years for products that are on the market for only < 2 years. Predictions must thus rely on limited experimental observations in combination with battery degradation models.

Embedded in Lancaster’s Energy Storage Group and the wider Multi-Scale Modelling consortium, you will develop a cell model to describe history-dependent degradation (resulting, e.g., in capacity fading). “History” will include fast-charging of battery cells in varied time patterns. The batteries and details of the research questions will come from the BMW battery research laboratories in Munich.

You will start with an experimental study, combining the rather young “High Precision Charge Counting”(b) (HPC) as a fast assessment method on the one hand with varied longer term charge/ discharge patterns on the other(c). The latter will rely on BMW’s input about known and expected user behaviour. In combination, those two data sets will give a quantitative idea of how well the fast HPC method is able to predict outcomes of longer-term degradation experiments.

You will also do “post mortem” analyses of fresh and aged cells,(d) analysing chemical composition and structure of the electrodes at varied stages of ageing. This will reveal the internal processes behind the externally observable degradation.

Six months into the project, you will start developing a computational cell model. In the spirit of the Multi-Scale Modelling approach, that cell model will in turn combine the advantages of computationally fast “continuum models”(e) and physically more accurate, yet much slower “atomistic models”.(f) This will ensure that empirical observations (e.g., capacity fade) can be traced back and linked to the underlying physical and chemical processes.

In summary, you will work at the three-way interface of experiments, computational modelling, and technological impact. You will gather experience and international contacts which will pave the way for any further career path you may choose.

Informal e-mail enquiries to Prof Harry Hoster prior to submitting an application are encouraged ([Email Address Removed]). Applications should be made via Lancaster University’s online application system. Applications will be considered in the order that they are received and the position may be filled when a suitable candidate has been identified.

The Department of Chemistry at Lancaster University provides a research environment that strongly supports the individual needs of each student, promoting a healthy work-life balance. We are committed to the Athena Swan Charter, which recognises and celebrates good employment practice undertaken to address gender equality in higher education and research. Our commitment to these principles is reflected in our recent receipt of an Athena Swan Bronze Award.