Browsing by Author "Russo, Stefano"

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    Electrical and mechanical characterisation of poly(ethylene)oxide-polysulfone blend for composite structural lithium batteries
    (MDPI, 2023-06-05) Gucci, Francesco; Grasso, Marzio; Russo, Stefano; Leighton, Glenn J. T.; Shaw, Christopher; Brighton, James
    In this work, a blend of PEO, polysulfone (PSF), and lithium bis(trifluoromethanesulfonyl)imide (LiTFSi) was prepared at different PEO–PSf weight ratios (70-30, 80-20, and 90-10) and ethylene oxide to lithium (EO/Li) ratios (16/1, 20/1, 30/1, and 50/1). The samples were characterised using FT-IR, DSC, and XRD. Young’s modulus and tensile strength were evaluated at room temperature with micro-tensile testing. The ionic conductivity was measured between 5 °C and 45 °C through electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). The samples with a ratio of PEO and PSf equal to 70-30 and EO/Li ratio equal to 16/1 have the highest conductivity (1.91 × 10−4 S/cm) at 25 °C, while the PEO–PSf 80-20 EO/Li = 50/1 have the highest averaged Young’s modulus of about 1.5 GPa at 25 °C. The configuration with a good balance between electrical and mechanical properties is the PEO–PSf 70-30 EO/Li = 30/1, which has a conductivity of 1.17 × 10−4 S/cm and a Young’s modulus of 800 MPa, both measured at 25 °C. It was also found that increasing the EO/Li ratio to 16/1 dramatically affects the mechanical properties of the samples with them showing extreme embrittlement.
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    Electrophoretic deposition of LiFePO4 and carbon black: a numerical study to explore longitudinal trends using Taguchi design
    (Elsevier, 2024-11) Russo, Stefano; Grasso, Marzio; Huang, Jian; Pramana, Stevin S; Gucci, Francesco; Shaw, Christopher; Leighton, Glenn J
    Developing Electrophoretic Deposition (EPD) for Composite Structural Batteries (CSBs) could revolutionise energy storage technology. CSBs offer an innovative solution by seamlessly integrating batteries into structures and effectively reducing weight and space constraints. Despite its successful implementation across various fields, EPD method still lacks comprehensive understanding of the underlying physical and chemical processes due to the number of variables involved. In this study the effects of key parameters associated with the process are investigated with a coupled FEM and analytical approach to find correlations with the deposition process. A Taguchi Design of Experiment with five parameters, namely voltage, concentration, relative weight ratio of LiFePO4 – carbon black particles, length and perimeter of the electrodes is implemented to identify the correlations with mass deposited, thickness of the coating and yield rate when LiFePO4 and Carbon Black particles in ethanol suspension are used. In order to capture the variation over time, each parameter is studied at six different time of deposition. A concentration that optimises yield rate resulting in thickness and mass deposition is identified. The resistivity of the suspension dictates the yield rate dynamics, allowing it to be designed within a specific range to meet requirements of different applications.