Bryan D. McCloskey
Colorado School of Mines
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Publication
Featured researches published by Bryan D. McCloskey.
Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters | 2011
Bryan D. McCloskey; D. S. Bethune; Robert M. Shelby; G. Girishkumar; A. C. Luntz
Among the many important challenges facing the development of Li-air batteries, understanding the electrolytes role in producing the appropriate reversible electrochemistry (i.e., 2Li(+) + O2 + 2e(-) ↔ Li2O2) is critical. Quantitative differential electrochemical mass spectrometry (DEMS), coupled with isotopic labeling of oxygen gas, was used to study Li-O2 electrochemistry in various solvents, including carbonates (typical Li ion battery solvents) and dimethoxyethane (DME). In conjunction with the gas-phase DEMS analysis, electrodeposits formed during discharge on Li-O2 cell cathodes were characterized using ex situ analytical techniques, such as X-ray diffraction and Raman spectroscopy. Carbonate-based solvents were found to irreversibly decompose upon cell discharge. DME-based cells, however, produced mainly lithium peroxide on discharge. Upon cell charge, the lithium peroxide both decomposed to evolve oxygen and oxidized DME at high potentials. Our results lead to two conclusions; (1) coulometry has to be coupled with quantitative gas consumption and evolution data to properly characterize the rechargeability of Li-air batteries, and (2) chemical and electrochemical electrolyte stability in the presence of lithium peroxide and its intermediates is essential to produce a truly reversible Li-O2 electrochemistry.
Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters | 2012
Bryan D. McCloskey; A. Speidel; R. Scheffler; D. C. Miller; Venkatasubramanian Viswanathan; Jens S. Hummelshøj; Jens K. Nørskov; A. C. Luntz
We use XPS and isotope labeling coupled with differential electrochemical mass spectrometry (DEMS) to show that small amounts of carbonates formed during discharge and charge of Li-O2 cells in ether electrolytes originate from reaction of Li2O2 (or LiO2) both with the electrolyte and with the C cathode. Reaction with the cathode forms approximately a monolayer of Li2CO3 at the C-Li2O2 interface, while reaction with the electrolyte forms approximately a monolayer of carbonate at the Li2O2-electrolyte interface during charge. A simple electrochemical model suggests that the carbonate at the electrolyte-Li2O2 interface is responsible for the large potential increase during charging (and hence indirectly for the poor rechargeability). A theoretical charge-transport model suggests that the carbonate layer at the C-Li2O2 interface causes a 10-100 fold decrease in the exchange current density. These twin interfacial carbonate problems are likely general and will ultimately have to be overcome to produce a highly rechargeable Li-air battery.
Chemical Reviews | 2014
Alan C. Luntz; Bryan D. McCloskey
Alan C. Luntz*,† and Bryan D. McCloskey‡,§ †SUNCAT, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, 2575 Sand Hill Road, Menlo Park, California 94025, United States ‡Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720, United States Environmental Energy Technologies Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California 94720, United States
Journal of the American Chemical Society | 2011
Bryan D. McCloskey; Rouven Scheffler; Angela Speidel; Donald S. Bethune; Robert M. Shelby; A. C. Luntz
Heterogeneous electrocatalysis has become a focal point in rechargeable Li-air battery research to reduce overpotentials in both the oxygen reduction (discharge) and especially oxygen evolution (charge) reactions. In this study, we show that past reports of traditional cathode electrocatalysis in nonaqueous Li-O(2) batteries were indeed true, but that gas evolution related to electrolyte solvent decomposition was the dominant process being catalyzed. In dimethoxyethane, where Li(2)O(2) formation is the dominant product of the electrochemistry, no catalytic activity (compared to pure carbon) is observed using the same (Au, Pt, MnO(2)) nanoparticles. Nevertheless, the onset potential of oxygen evolution is only slightly higher than the open circuit potential of the cell, indicating conventional oxygen evolution electrocatalysis may be unnecessary.
Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters | 2012
Bryan D. McCloskey; D. S. Bethune; Robert M. Shelby; T. Mori; R. Scheffler; A. Speidel; M. Sherwood; A. C. Luntz
Quantitative differential electrochemical mass spectrometry (DEMS) is used to measure the Coulombic efficiency of discharge and charge [(e(-)/O2)dis and (e(-)/O2)chg] and chemical rechargeability (characterized by the O2 recovery efficiency, OER/ORR) for Li-O2 electrochemistry in a variety of nonaqueous electrolytes. We find that none of the electrolytes studied are truly rechargeable, with OER/ORR <90% for all. Our findings emphasize that neither the overpotential for recharge nor capacity fade during cycling are adequate to assess rechargeability. Coulometry has to be coupled to quantitative measurements of the chemistry to measure the rechargeability truly. We show that rechargeability in the various electrolytes is limited both by chemical reaction of Li2O2 with the solvent and by electrochemical oxidation reactions during charging at potentials below the onset of electrolyte oxidation on an inert electrode. Possible mechanisms are suggested for electrolyte decomposition, which taken together, impose stringent conditions on the liquid electrolyte in Li-O2 batteries.
Journal of The Electrochemical Society | 2011
Paul Albertus; G. Girishkumar; Bryan D. McCloskey; Roel Sanchez-Carrera; Boris Kozinsky; Jake Christensen; A. C. Luntz
The Li/oxygen battery may achieve a high practical specific energy as its theoretical specific energy is 11,400 Wh/kg Li assuming Li 2 O 2 is the product. To help understand the physics of the Li/oxygen battery we present the first physics-based model that incorporates the major thermodynamic, transport, and kinetic processes. We obtain a good match between porous-electrode experiments and simulations by using an empirical fit to the resistance of the discharge products (which include carbonates and oxides when using carbonate solvents) as a function of thickness that is obtained from flat-electrode experiments. The experiments and model indicate that the discharge products are electronically resistive, limiting their thickness to tens of nanometers and their volume fraction in one of our discharged porous electrodes to a few percent. Flat-electrode experiments, where pore clogging is impossible, show passivation similar to porous-electrode experiments and allow us to conclude that electrical passivation is the dominant capacity-limiting mechanism in our cells. Although in carbonate solvents Li 2 O 2 is not the dominant discharge product, we argue that the implications of this model, (i.e., electrical passivation by the discharge products limits the capacity) also apply if Li 2 O 2 is the discharge product, as it is an intrinsic electronic insulator.
Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters | 2013
Bryan D. McCloskey; Alexia Valery; Alan C. Luntz; Sanketh R. Gowda; Gregory M. Wallraff; Jeannette M. Garcia; Takashi Mori; Leslie E. Krupp
Li-air batteries have generated enormous interest as potential high specific energy alternatives to existing energy storage devices. However, Li-air batteries suffer from poor rechargeability caused by the instability of organic electrolytes and carbon cathodes. To understand and address this poor rechargeability, it is essential to elucidate the efficiency in which O2 is converted to Li2O2 (the desired discharge product) during discharge and the efficiency in which Li2O2 is oxidized back to O2 during charge. In this Letter, we combine many quantitative techniques, including a newly developed peroxide titration, to assign and quantify decomposition pathways occurring in cells employing a variety of solvents and cathodes. We find that Li2O2-induced electrolyte solvent and salt instabilities account for nearly all efficiency losses upon discharge, whereas both cathode and electrolyte instabilities are observed upon charge at high potentials.
Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters | 2014
Bryan D. McCloskey; Jeannette M. Garcia; Alan C. Luntz
We present a comparative study of nonaqueous Li-O2 and Na-O2 batteries employing an ether-based electrolyte. The most intriguing difference between the two batteries is their respective galvanostatic charging overpotentials: a Na-O2 battery exhibits a low overpotential throughout most of its charge, whereas a Li-O2 battery has a low initial overpotential that continuously increases to very high voltages by the end of charge. However, we find that the inherent kinetic Li and Na-O2 overpotentials, as measured on a flat glassy carbon electrode in a bulk electrolysis cell, are similar. Measurement of each batteries desired product yield, YNaO2 and YLi2O2, during discharge and rechargeability by differential electrochemical mass spectrometry (DEMS) indicates that less chemical and electrochemical decomposition occurs in a Na-O2 battery during the first Galvanostatic discharge-charge cycle. We therefore postulate that reactivity differences (Li2O2 being more reactive than NaO2) between the major discharge products lead to the observed charge overpotential difference between each battery.
Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters | 2015
Bryan D. McCloskey
As a result of sulfurs high electrochemical capacity (1675 mA h/gs), lithium-sulfur batteries have received significant attention as a potential high-specific-energy alternative to current state-of-the-art rechargeable Li ion batteries. For Li-S batteries to compete with commercially available Li ion batteries, high-capacity anodes, such as those that use Li metal, will need to be enabled to fully exploit sulfurs high capacity. The development of Li metal anodes has focused on eliminating Coulombically inefficient and dendritic Li cycling, and to this end, an interesting direction of research is to protect Li metal by employing mechanically stiff solid-state Li(+) conductors, such as garnet phase Li7La3Zr2O12 (LLZO), NASICON-type Li1+xAlxTi2-x(PO4)3 (LATP), and Li2S-P2S5 glasses (LPS), as electrode separators. Basic calculations are used to quantify useful targets for solid Li metal protective separator thickness and cost to enable Li metal batteries in general and Li-S batteries specifically. Furthermore, maximum electrolyte-to-sulfur ratios that allow Li-S batteries to compete with Li ion batteries are calculated. The results presented here suggest that controlling the complex polysulfide speciation chemistry in Li-S cells with realistic, minimal electrolyte loading presents a meaningful opportunity to develop Li-S batteries that are competitive on a specific energy basis with current state-of-the-art Li ion batteries.
Journal of the American Chemical Society | 2016
Vincent Giordani; Dylan Tozier; Hongjin Tan; Colin M. Burke; Betar M. Gallant; Jasim Uddin; Julia R. Greer; Bryan D. McCloskey; Gregory V. Chase; Dan Addison
Despite the promise of extremely high theoretical capacity (2Li + O2 ↔ Li2O2, 1675 mAh per gram of oxygen), many challenges currently impede development of Li/O2 battery technology. Finding suitable electrode and electrolyte materials remains the most elusive challenge to date. A radical new approach is to replace volatile, unstable and air-intolerant organic electrolytes common to prior research in the field with alkali metal nitrate molten salt electrolytes and operate the battery above the liquidus temperature (>80 °C). Here we demonstrate an intermediate temperature Li/O2 battery using a lithium anode, a molten nitrate-based electrolyte (e.g., LiNO3-KNO3 eutectic) and a porous carbon O2 cathode with high energy efficiency (∼95%) and improved rate capability because the discharge product, lithium peroxide, is stable and moderately soluble in the molten salt electrolyte. The results, supported by essential state-of-the-art electrochemical and analytical techniques such as in situ pressure and gas analyses, scanning electron microscopy, rotating disk electrode voltammetry, demonstrate that Li2O2 electrochemically forms and decomposes upon cycling with discharge/charge overpotentials as low as 50 mV. We show that the cycle life of such batteries is limited only by carbon reactivity and by the uncontrolled precipitation of Li2O2, which eventually becomes electrically disconnected from the O2 electrode.