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Micro-Grid (MG) systems have been extensively studied and deployed to lower the power consumption while reducing the greenhouse gas emissions. Although, the challenge with Renewable Energy Sources (RES) is their uncertain and intermittent nature, things that led the researchers to think about integrating storage devices, especially batteries, into MG systems. The main aim is to store the excess of produced energy for further usage when not enough energy is available. Nevertheless, batteries modeling and characterization is mandatory to identify their parameters and study their performance within MG systems. Moreover, in order to continuously supply electricity to the building, it is required to figure out the optimum size of energy production systems and storage devices. This paper introduces a methodology for MG modeling and performance evaluation. Its main contribution is twofold, (i) battery’s parameters identification, and (ii) modeling and dimensioning method for both standalone and MG systems. An instrumentation platform, composed of recent sensing and actuating equipment, for MG energy management and battery characterization is developed. Simulation and experimental results show the effectiveness of the proposed methodology.

Open circuit voltage (OCV) of lithium batteries has been of interest since the battery management system (BMS) requires an accurate knowledge of the voltage characteristics of any Li-ion batteries. This article presents an OCV characteristic for lithium manganese oxide (LMO) batteries under several experimental operating conditions, and discusses factors for accurate OCV determination. A test system is developed for OCV characterization based on the OCV pulse test method. Various factors for the OCV behavior, such as resting period, step-size of the pulse test, testing current amplitude, hysteresis phenomena, and terminal voltage relationship, are investigated and evaluated. To this end, a general OCV model based on state of charge (SOC) tracking is developed and validated with satisfactory results.

This paper provides a comprehensive analysis of the lithium battery degradation mechanisms and failure modes. It discusses these issues in a general context and then focuses on various families or material types used in the batteries, particularly in anodes and cathodes. The paper begins with a general overview of lithium batteries and their operations. It explains the fundamental principles of the electrochemical reaction that occurs in a battery, as well as the key components such as the anode, cathode, and electrolyte. The paper explores also the degradation processes and failure modes of lithium batteries. It examines the main factors contributing to these issues, including the operating temperature and current. It highlights the specific degradation mechanisms associated with each type of material, whether it is graphite, silicon, metallic lithium, cobalt, nickel, or manganese oxides used in the electrodes. Some degradations are due to the temperature and the current waveforms. Then, the importance of thermal management and current management is emphasized throughout the paper. It highlights the negative effects of overheating, excessive current, or inappropriate voltage on the stability and lifespan of lithium batteries. It also underscores the significance of battery management systems (BMS) in monitoring and controlling these parameters to minimize the degradation and the risk of failure. This work provides a summary of valuable insight into the development of BMS. It emphasizes the importance of understanding the degradation mechanisms and failure modes specific to different families of lithium batteries, as well as the critical influence of temperature and current quality. Rational management or efficient controlling of these parameters can enhance the performance, reliability, and lifespan of lithium batteries.

Accurate modeling of the nonlinear relationship between the open circuit voltage (OCV) and the state of charge (SOC) is required for adaptive SOC estimation during the lithium-ion (Li-ion) battery operation. Online SOC estimation should meet several constraints, such as the computational cost, the number of parameters, as well as the accuracy of the model. In this paper, these challenges are considered by proposing an improved simplified and accurate OCV model of a nickel manganese cobalt (NMC) Li-ion battery, based on an empirical analytical characterization approach. In fact, composed of double exponential and simple quadratic functions containing only five parameters, the proposed model accurately follows the experimental curve with a minor fitting error of 1 mV. The model is also valid at a wide temperature range and takes into account the voltage hysteresis of the OCV. Using this model in SOC estimation by the extended Kalman filter (EKF) contributes to minimizing the execution time and to reducing the SOC estimation error to only 3% compared to other existing models where the estimation error is about 5%. Experiments are also performed to prove that the proposed OCV model incorporated in the EKF estimator exhibits good reliability and precision under various loading profiles and temperatures.

Binders play an important role in electrode processing for energy storage systems. While conventional binders often require hazardous and costly organic solvents, there has been increasing development toward greener and less expensive binders, with a focus on those that can be processed in aqueous conditions. Due to their functional groups, many of these aqueous binders offer further beneficial properties, such as higher adhesion to withstand the large volume changes of several high-capacity electrode materials. In this review, we first discuss the roles of binders in the construction of electrodes, particularly for energy storage systems, summarize typical binder characterization techniques, and then highlight the recent advances on aqueous binder systems, aiming to provide a stepping stone for the development of polymer binders with better sustainability and improved functionalities.

The surge in electric vehicle adoption has resulted in a significant rise in end-of-life batteries, which are unsuitable for demanding EV applications. Repurposing these batteries for secondary applications presents a promising avenue to tackle environmental and economic challenges associated with their disposal. The second-life battery (SLB) approach emerges as a mechanism to manage this massive amount of retired EV batteries. However, this approach poses significant challenges in determining and monitoring battery degradation and performance. After evaluating different scenarios for reusing or recycling retired EV batteries, this paper examines the main challenges associated with SLBs, including techno-economic aspects, uncertainty from first life, safety, characterization and screening, battery-management systems, and secondary applications. A comprehensive review of current state-of-the-art SLB research and implementations is provided, particularly emphasizing battery characterization and the requisite evaluation processes for SLB eligibility. This paper explores diverse measurement techniques for assessing SLB performance, evaluating them based on accuracy, complexity, and time consumption, which are essential for achieving cost-effective SLB applications. The overarching objective is to thoroughly understand the principal challenges associated with repurposing EV batteries and delineate the research imperatives necessary for their successful implementation and prolonged lifespan.

The large increment expected in the diffusion of light-electric-vehicles will raise several issues that must be addressed to cope with this trend, including battery diagnostic and maintenance services. The battery system is the most expensive part in the majority of the e-mobility devices. Therefore, battery manufacturers tend to reduce the battery cost by using simple battery management systems that provide only basic safety features. Possible advanced functionalities are not implemented and the battery may lose performanceduring its use. Widely spread maintenance centers are thus required to support the mobility electrification process, but their diffusion is limited by the high cost ofprofessional battery characterization instruments. This work proposes an open-hardware low-cost battery maintenance tool architecture that can be used with common laboratory instruments. The tool is based on a relay-matrix and a battery monitor integrated circuit. It is able to completely characterize and optimize the state of a battery independently of the battery management system and also gives a figure of the individual aging of the battery cells. The work shows the architecture and the experimental validation of a 16-cells battery maintenance tool prototype. The results demonstrate that utilizing the tool brings the battery in the best possible state and identifies the degradation of the cells in terms of capacity and resistance.

The solid electrolyte interphase (SEI) on the anode of lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) has been studied thoroughly due to its crucial importance to the battery’s long-term performance. At the same time, most studies of the SEI apply ex situ characterization methods, which may introduce artifacts or misinterpretations as they do not investigate the SEI in its unaltered state immersed in liquid battery electrolyte. Thus, in this work, we focus on using the non-destructive combination of electrochemical quartz crystal microbalance with dissipation monitoring (EQCM-D) and impedance spectroscopy (EIS) in the same electrochemical cell. EQCM-D can not only probe the solidified products of the SEI but also allows for the monitoring of viscoelastic layers and viscosity changes of the electrolyte at the interphase during the SEI formation. EIS complements those results by providing electrochemical properties of the formed interphase. Our results highlight substantial differences in the physical and electrochemical properties between the SEI formed on copper and on amorphous carbon and show how formation parameters and the additive vinylene carbonate (VC) influence their growth. The EQCM-D results show consistently that much thicker SEIs are formed on carbon substrates in comparison to copper substrates.

Its crucial importance to the long-term operation of lithium-ion batteries has made the solid electrolyte interphase (SEI) the subject of intensive research efforts. These investigations are challenging, however, due to the very complex and fragile nature of this layer. With its typical thickness being in the range of some 10 nm and its chemical make-up being highly sensitive to even the smallest amounts of impurities, it becomes clear that artifacts are easily introduced in investigations of the SEI, especially if the measurements are performed ex situ. To help ameliorate these issues, we herein report a combination of non-destructive operando techniques that can be employed simultaneously in the same electrochemical cell to provide a plethora of physical, morphological, and electrochemical data on the macroscopic and microscopic scale. These techniques encompass atomic force microscopy (AFM), electrochemical quartz crystal microbalance with dissipation monitoring (EQCM-D), and impedance spectroscopy (EIS). This work focuses on how to combine these techniques in a single electrochemical cell, which is suitable to study SEI formation while avoiding noise, crosstalk, inhomogeneous SEI formation, and other pitfalls.

Cryogenic transmission electron microscopy (cryo-TEM) has been instrumental to reducing the effects of electron-beam sample interactions and enabling higher spatial resolution studies of beam sensitive materials. However, the process of thinning and freezing samples for cryo-TEM characterization is often complex and frequently involves removing materials from their environment or stimuli of interest for extended times. This can allow for structural relaxation, diffusion, and other dynamic processes to occur prior to characterization; for energy materials like battery electrodes, this makes it difficult to precisely correlate the imaged structure with native structures that evolve in-situ during device processing, operation, or aging. Here, we present methods to prepare cryo-TEM samples from energy materials during these critical processes in the relevant device lifetimes. This offers insights into improving the temporal resolution of cryo-TEM, while still exploiting its ability to achieve high spatial resolutions in characterizing beam sensitive materials.