Supervisor:  Dr Rohit Bhagat (WMG) and Chris Lyness (JLR)

Project Overview: 

Lithium batteries change and degrade during operation leading to reduced performance. This becomes increasingly important when considering the electric vehicle application where many batteries are connected to form battery packs. Typically, its weakest performing constituent battery limits the performance of the pack. Being able to identify the weakest performing battery in a quick non-invasive way is key for the automotive industry. This would enable engineers to quickly test battery packs during servicing of the vehicle allowing batteries to be replaced where needed.

The reduction in performance of a battery is as a result of internal chemical, electrochemical, thermal and materials changes reducing the efficiency. These changes can be assessed using impedance spectroscopy and other electrochemical techniques.

This results in a reduction in the available energy and is evident in mobile electronics such as mobile phones. These changes within the battery manifest as changes in internal resistance, which can be analysed using impedance spectroscopy.

This work will be critical in our efforts to reduce battery ageing and to develop diagnostic tools for electric vehicle batteries.

Objectives:

• Use Impedance Spectroscopy and other electrochemical techniques to investigate changes, within the battery, during operation.
• Apply these techniques to understand the effect of mechanical stress on the battery
• Apply these techniques to investigate the diverse ageing mechanism within batteries
• Determine if these techniques can be used to diagnose the health of a battery

Awards available:  1 award available

Funding: Fees and maintenance at RCUK level

Length of Award: 3 years (PhD)

Eligibility:  Due to funding restrictions the applicant should be eligible as a UK/EU student.

Application Details: Applicants should have a First Class UK honour degree or equivalent, in a relevant discipline such as Chemistry, Chemical Engineering or Material Science.

Experience of thermodynamics, impedance spectroscopy, electrochemistry or a MSc in a relevant subject is highly desirable.

Any enquiries relating to the application process should be directed to Jennifer Kirkwood at engd@warwick.ac.uk. 

For further information, please visit: http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/sci/wmg/education/researchdegrees

Deadline:  30 June 2013