Understanding Battery Safety Issues from a Mechanics-Driven Perspective

Abstract:  

Lithium-ion batteries are one of the critical momentums of our current mobile society. With the further development and application of increasingly high-energy-density batteries and large-capacity battery packs in electric vehicles, cellphones, laptops, and large-scale energy storage systems, the consequences of battery safety issues have now become significant threats. Internal short circuits (ISCs) and thermal runaways (TRs) are typical battery safety issues where mechanics, electrochemistry, and thermal are strongly coupled. Interdisciplinary endeavors are in pressing need to address these safety issues. In this talk, multiphysics modeling and characterization at both the cell level (~10^2 mm) and active particle level (~1 μm) will be highlighted to provide a mechanistic understanding of the nature of triggering and evolution of ISCs. In the meantime, a machine-learning approach combined with physics-based modeling will be introduced to achieve faster computation with higher accuracy. Results provide new insights into multiphysics behaviors related to battery safety issues and offer engineering-ready modeling methodologies for next-generation battery design, evaluation, and monitoring.

Bio:

Dr. Jun Xu is an Associate Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Delaware. Dr. Xu’s research primarily focuses on multiphysics modeling and characterization of batteries, as well as the impact dynamics. Dr. Xu is a Fellow of ASME and a Senior Member of IEEE. Dr. Xu now serves as an executive committee member of the Advanced Energy System Division, ASME. He is an Associate Editor of ASME Journal of Electrochemical Energy Conversion and Storage, Energy Materials and Devices, Scientific Reports, and Batteries. Dr. Xu has published over 160 peer-reviewed journal papers with citations of 11,000+, H-index 56. Dr. Xu earned his Ph.D. degree from Columbia University in 2014