Sensing
As batteries become increasingly central to our daily lives, so does the demand for highly reliable and long-life batteries. This has revitalised battery-sensing activities with novel approaches to passively monitor the effects of temperature, pressure, strain, impedance and potential.
Whatever battery technology considered, its performance is governed by the nature and dynamics of the interfaces within the battery cell, which in turn rely on temperature-driven reactions with unpredictable kinetics. Although monitoring temperature is essential for improving battery cycle life and longevity, this is not directly measured today at the cell level in electric vehicle (EV) applications.
In the Battery 2030+ projects we develop sensor solutions to detect degradation and failure mechanisms, intentionally before a loss of performance. It can be both internal and external sensors that, in real-time, measures the internal battery cell parameters.
Self-healing
To really ensure reliability, it is preferable if the battery cell automatically senses damage and also reinstate the virgin configuration together with its functionality. A self-healing research programme is therefore developed hand in hand with the sensing one.
The mechanism to do this differs between the projects. It can be things like mimicking natural healing mechanisms, prevent dendrite growth within the battery or to fabricate nanostructured, magnetically, or thermally activated polymers.