Thermochemistry is a key consideration in battery materials development and in devices. Examples include; thermal processing of ores to make pure battery-grade precursors, electrode active material synthesis, electrode calendaring, heat generation and management during battery operation, thermal runaway reactions and recycling processes. Understanding the interplay between heat/temperature and battery materials or operation is key in order to develop resilient and robust materials and devices.
This talk will showcase a subset of our work in this space. First, a focus will be on the structural studies of entire devices under a variety of external conditions, i.e., operation at elevated temperatures. Next, the thermal evolution of electrode materials extracted from batteries at various states of charge will be presented, highlighting the impact of electrode components on thermal evolution. Finally, the impact of thermal treatments on “black mass” will be shown, providing information on how thermal treatments can be used to tailor or understand potential recycling processes. Overall, this work will highlight the importance of understanding thermal properties via a combination of structural analysis based on variable temperature diffraction studies and thermogravimetric analysis.