Biomimetic Ion Channels: from Nature to Batteries

Date: 2021/12/01 - 2021/12/01

Academic Seminar: Biomimetic Ion Channels: from Nature to Batteries

Speaker: Dr. Li Shen, postdoctoral scholar at University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA)

Time: 9:00 a.m.-10:00 a.m., Dec 1st, 2021 (Beijing Time)

Location: via Feishu

Abstract

Organic liquid electrolytes used in lithium-ion batteries have merit of high ionic conductivity, however, they also suffer shortcomings of poor thermal stability and low transport efficiency of lithium-ions. In this talk, inspired by ion channels in biological systems, I will first demonstrate that lithium-ion electrolytes with biomimetic ionic channels could be constructed using metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) as scaffolds. This is achieved by complexing anions of an electrolyte to the open metal sites of MOFs, producing ionic-channel analogs with lithium-ion conduction and low activation energy.  With these findings, we further explore various applications in solid-state/polymer/semiliquid electrolytes, functional separators and additives.

Biography

Dr. Shen is currently a postdoctoral scholar at University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), where he earned his Ph.D. in chemical engineering in 2018. His research interests include energy storage materials, battery electrolytes and nanoporous materials.