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arXiv · 2004.10707

A Quantitative Analytical Model for Predicting and Optimizing the Rate Performance of Battery Cells

Fan Wang·Ming Tang
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Abstract

An important objective of designing lithium-ion rechargeable battery cells is to maximize their rate performance without compromising the energy density, which is mainly achieved through computationally expensive numerical simulations at present. Here we present a simple analytical model for predicting the rate performance of battery cells limited by electrolyte transport without any fitting parameters. It exhibits very good agreement with simulations over a wide range of discharge rate and electrode thickness and offers a speedup of >10$^5$ times. The optimal electrode properties predicted by the model are of less than 10% difference from simulation results, suggesting it as an attractive computational tool for the cell-level battery architecture design. The model also offers important insights on practical ways to improve the rate performance of thick electrodes, including avoiding electrode materials such as LiFePO$_4$ and Li$_4$Ti$_5$O$_{12}$ whose open-circuit potentials are insensitive to the state of charge and utilizing lithium metal anode to synergistically accelerate electrolyte transport within thick cathodes.

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Fan Wang, Ming Tang. 2020-04-20. A Quantitative Analytical Model for Predicting and Optimizing the Rate Performance of Battery Cells. https://arxiv.org/abs/2004.10707

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