Increasing energy density of Li-ion batteries (LiBs) along with fast charging capability are two key approaches to eliminate range anxiety and boost mainstream adoption of electric vehicles (EVs). ...Either the increase of energy density or of charge rate, however, heightens the risk of lithium plating and thus deteriorates cell life. The trilemma of fast charging, energy density and cycle life are studied systematically in this work utilizing a physics-based aging model with incorporation of both lithium plating and solid-electrolyte-interphase (SEI) growth. The model is able to capture the key feature of temperature-dependent aging behavior of LiBs, or more specifically, the existence of an optimal temperature with the longest cycle life. We demonstrate that this optimal temperature is a result of competition between SEI growth and lithium plating. Further, it is revealed that either the increase of charge rate or of energy density accelerates lithium plating induced aging. As such, the optimal temperature for cell life increases from ∼20 °C for a high-power cell at 1C charge to ∼35–45 °C with the increase of charge rate and/or energy density. It would be beneficial to further increase the charge temperature in order to enable robust fast charging of high energy EV cells.
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•Temperature-dependent aging behavior of Li-ion battery is studied numerically.•Overall aging rate depends on the competition of lithium plating and SEI growth.•The optimal temperature for cycle life increases with charge rate & energy density.•Raising charging temperature is an effective method to eliminating lithium plating.
Electric vehicles (EVs) suffer from significant driving range loss in subzero temperature environments due to reduced energy and power capability of Li-ion batteries as well as severe battery ...degradation due to Li plating. Preheating batteries to room temperature is an essential function of an effective battery management system. The present study employs an electrochemical–thermal coupled model to simulate, for the first time, the process of heating Li-ion batteries from subzero temperatures. Three heating strategies are proposed and compared using battery power, namely self-internal heating, convective heating and mutual pulse heating, as well as one strategy (AC heating) using external power. Their advantages and disadvantages are discussed in terms of capacity loss, heating time, system durability, and cost. For heating using battery power, model predictions reveal that Li-ion batteries can be heated from −20°C to 20°C at the expense of only 5% battery capacity loss using mutual pulse heating with high-efficiency dc–dc converter, implying considerable potential for improved driving range of EVs in cold weather conditions. Moreover, the heating time can be reduced to within 2min by increasing cell output power using convective heating and mutual pulse heating. For external power heating, high frequency AC signal with large amplitude is a preferred choice, offering both high heating power and improved battery cycle life.
We report phase-programmable Gaussian boson sampling (GBS) which produces up to 113 photon detection events out of a 144-mode photonic circuit. A new high-brightness and scalable quantum light source ...is developed, exploring the idea of stimulated emission of squeezed photons, which has simultaneously near-unity purity and efficiency. This GBS is programmable by tuning the phase of the input squeezed states. The obtained samples are efficiently validated by inferring from computationally friendly subsystems, which rules out hypotheses including distinguishable photons and thermal states. We show that our GBS experiment passes a nonclassicality test based on inequality constraints, and we reveal nontrivial genuine high-order correlations in the GBS samples, which are evidence of robustness against possible classical simulation schemes. This photonic quantum computer, Jiuzhang 2.0, yields a Hilbert space dimension up to ∼ 1043, and a sampling rate ∼ 1024 faster than using brute-force simulation on classical supercomputers.
3D fine-mesh flow-fields recently developed by Toyota Mirai improved water management and mass transport in proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell stacks, suggesting their potential value for ...robust and high-power PEM fuel cell stack performance. In such complex flow-fields, Forchheimer's inertial effect is dominant at high current density. In this work, a two-phase flow model of 3D complex flow-fields of PEMFCs is developed by accounting for Forchheimer's inertial effect, for the first time, to elucidate the underlying mechanism of liquid water behavior and mass transport inside 3D complex flow-fields and their adjacent gas diffusion layers (GDL). It is found that Forchheimer's inertial effect enhances liquid water removal from flow-fields and adds additional flow resistance around baffles, which improves interfacial liquid water and mass transport. As a result, substantial improvements in high current density cell performance and operational stability are expected in PEMFCs with 3D complex flow-fields, compared to PEMFCs with conventional flow-fields. Higher current density operation required to further reduce PEMFC stack cost per kW in the future will necessitate optimizing complex flow-field designs using the present model, in order to efficiently remove a large amount of product water and hence minimize the mass transport voltage loss.
•Forchheimer's inertial effect is dominant in PEMFCs with 3D complex flow-fields.•Forchheimer's inertial effect enhances liquid water removal and mass transport.•PEMFCs with 3D complex flow-fields are robust and efficient at high current density.
Fast charging is a key enabler of mainstream adoption of electric vehicles (EVs). None of today’s EVs can withstand fast charging in cold or even cool temperatures due to the risk of lithium plating. ...Efforts to enable fast charging are hampered by the trade-off nature of a lithium-ion battery: Improving low-temperature fast charging capability usually comes with sacrificing cell durability. Here, we present a controllable cell structure to break this trade-off and enable lithium plating-free (LPF) fast charging. Further, the LPF cell gives rise to a unified charging practice independent of ambient temperature, offering a platform for the development of battery materials without temperature restrictions. We demonstrate a 9.5 Ah 170 Wh/kg LPF cell that can be charged to 80% state of charge in 15 min even at −50 °C (beyond cell operation limit). Further, the LPF cell sustains 4,500 cycles of 3.5-C charging in 0 °C with <20% capacity loss, which is a 90× boost of life compared with a baseline conventional cell, and equivalent to >12 y and >280,000 miles of EV lifetime under this extreme usage condition, i.e., 3.5-C or 15-min fast charging at freezing temperatures.
A physics-based Li-ion battery (LIB) aging model accounting for both lithium plating and solid electrolyte interphase (SEI) growth is presented, and is applied to study the aging behavior of a cell ...undergoing prolonged cycling at moderate operating conditions. Cell aging is found to be linear in the early stage of cycling but highly nonlinear in the end with rapid capacity drop and resistance rise. The linear aging stage is found to be dominated by SEI growth, while the transition from linear to nonlinear aging is attributed to the sharp rise of lithium plating rate. Lithium plating starts to occur in a narrow portion of the anode near the separator after a certain number of cycles. The onset of lithium plating is attributed to the drop of anode porosity associated with SEI growth, which aggravates the local electrolyte potential gradient in the anode. The presence of lithium metal accelerates the porosity reduction, further promoting lithium plating. This positive feedback leads to exponential increase of lithium plating rate in the late stage of cycling, as well as local pore clogging near the anode/separator interface which in turn leads to a sharp resistance rise.
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•We present a Li-ion battery model capable of predicting Li plating induced aging.•The model is able to capture the transition from linear to nonlinear aging.•Nonlinear aging is attributed to exponential increase of Li plating rate.•Anode porosity drop due to SEI growth is response for onset of Li plating.•There is positive feedback btw porosity drop and Li plating rate increase.
Measurement-device-independent quantum key distribution (MDI-QKD), based on two-photon interference, is immune to all attacks against the detection system and allows a QKD network with untrusted ...relays. Since the MDI-QKD protocol was proposed, fiber-based implementations aimed at longer distance, higher key rates, and network verification have been rapidly developed. However, owing to the effect of atmospheric turbulence, MDI-QKD over a free-space channel remains experimentally challenging. Herein, by developing a robust adaptive optics system, high-precision time synchronization and frequency locking between independent photon sources located far apart, we realized the first free-space MDI-QKD over a 19.2-km urban atmospheric channel, which well exceeds the effective atmospheric thickness. Our experiment takes the first step toward satellite-based MDI-QKD. Moreover, the technology developed herein opens the way to quantum experiments in free space involving long-distance interference of independent single photons.
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