Dr. Robert Messinger, The City College of New York
Seminar Title: "Revealing Electrochemical Reaction Mechanisms in Emerging Battery Chemistries: From the Electric Grid to Robotic Spacecraft"
Host: Philip Grandinetti, grandinetti.1@osu.edu
Abstract
Emerging battery chemistries are currently under development for applications ranging from earth abundant, grid-scale energy storage to novel power sources for robotic spacecraft. Many emerging battery chemistries, however, have been hindered technologically by limited molecular-level understanding of how they function and fail. In this talk, I will discuss recent progress in the molecular-scale understanding and design of rechargeable aluminum (Al) metal batteries and fluoride-ion (F-ion) batteries. Electrochemical and solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) experiments were coupled to elucidate new understanding of their ionic and electronic charge storage mechanisms. For Al batteries, Chevrel phase electrodes are shown to electrochemically intercalate Al3+ cations with concomitant anionic redox, an unusual charge storage mechanism. Anthraquinone-based organic electrodes are shown to store charge by electrochemical enolization reactions coupled with charge-compensating complexation of chloroaluminous (AlCl2+) cations. In metal-carbon monofluoride (CFx) batteries, using either tin (Sn) or lead (Pb) metal electrodes, the direct electrochemical defluorination of CFx electrodes is demonstrated for the first time using room-temperature F-ion electrolytes. This new electrochemical reaction mechanism significantly reduces the overpotential (by >1 volt) necessary to defluorinate CFx. Overall, the results yield molecular-level design principles aimed at developing Al metal and F-ion CFx batteries for diverse energy storage applications.
Robert J. Messinger is an Associate Professor and the Director of Graduate Studies in the Department of Chemical Engineering at The City College of New York (CCNY). He earned a B.S. in chemical engineering from The Ohio State University (2006) and a Ph.D. in chemical engineering from the University of California, Santa Barbara (2012). Afterwards, he studied physical chemistry and electrochemistry at the CNRS, France, first as a European Union Marie Curie Postdoctoral Fellow in Orléans (2012-2014) and then jointly with the CNRS and Grenoble Institute of Technology (2014-2015). At CCNY, his research group studies electrochemical materials, chemical processes, and multi-phase fluids up from the molecular level for energy storage and recycling applications. He is an expert in nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. Prof. Messinger won an NSF CAREER award (2019) and is the Founding Director of the NASA-CCNY Center for Advanced Batteries for Space.
