1. Interfacial Fracture of Nanowire Electrodes of Lithium-Ion Batteries
- Author
-
Cole D. Fincher, G. R. Hardin, Matt Pharr, and Yuwei Zhang
- Subjects
Strain energy release rate ,Battery (electricity) ,Materials science ,Metallurgy ,General Engineering ,Nanowire ,chemistry.chemical_element ,02 engineering and technology ,Current collector ,010402 general chemistry ,021001 nanoscience & nanotechnology ,01 natural sciences ,Finite element method ,0104 chemical sciences ,chemistry ,Electrode ,Fracture (geology) ,General Materials Science ,Lithium ,Composite material ,0210 nano-technology - Abstract
Nanowires (NW) have emerged as a promising design for high power-density lithium-ion battery (LIB) electrodes. However, volume changes during cycling can lead to fracture of the NWs. In this paper, we investigate a particularly detrimental form of fracture: interfacial detachment of the NW from the current collector (CC). We perform finite element simulations to calculate the energy release rates of NWs during lithiation as a function of geometric parameters and mechanical properties. The simulations show that the energy release rate of a surface crack decreases as it propagates along the NW/CC interface toward the center of the NW. Moreover, this paper demonstrates that plastic deformation in the NWs drastically reduces stresses and thus crack-driving forces, thereby mitigating interfacial fracture. Overall, the results in this paper provide design guidelines for averting NW/CC interfacial fractures during operation of LIBs.
- Published
- 2017