Stage Development and characterization of a solid sulfide electrolyte for Na-ion batteries

Job description

General Information

Location:

·  City:Aubervilliers
·  Country:France
·  Region:Europe

Job Category: Research & Innovation
Job Type: Internship
Type of Contract: Fixed-term contract
Working time: Full-time
Work schedule: Day shift

Solvay is a science company whose technologies bring benefits to many aspects of daily life. With more than 24,100 employees in 64 countries, Solvay bonds people, ideas and elements to reinvent progress. The Group seeks to create sustainable shared value for all, notably through its Solvay One Planet plan crafted around three pillars: protecting the climate, preserving resources and fostering better life. The Group’s innovative solutions contribute to safer, cleaner, and more sustainable products found in homes, food and consumer goods, planes, cars, batteries, smart devices, health care applications, water and air purification systems. Founded in 1863, Solvay today ranks among the world’s top three companies for the vast majority of its activities and delivered net sales of €10.2 billion in 2019. Solvay is listed on Euronext Brussels (SOLB) and Paris and in the United States, where its shares (SOLVY) are traded through a Level I ADR program.

The Research & Innovation function (R&I) leads Solvay into new growth territories with breakthrough innovation to generate new products, applications and processes in the field of sustainable chemistry. Partners with the GBUs to deliver more value and leverages the Group’s capabilities to improve competitiveness and create new business opportunities for Solvay and its customers.

Stage Development and characterization of a solid sulfide electrolyte for Na-ion batteries

Job Overview and Responsibilities

The development of safer and low-cost energy storage solutions is a necessity if we want to achieve the transition towards renewable energies. Na-ion batteries are an interesting alternative to Li-ion batteries because of the high natural abundance and low cost of sodium compared to lithium. Recently, the replacement of conventional flammable liquid electrolytes is being made possible by the intense work on the development of solid electrolytes with high ionic conductivity. Solvay is extremely active in the field, working as a chemist to scale-up these highly promising materials at amounts compatible with industrialization of ASSB.

Regarding Li-ion or Na-ion ASSB, sulfide-based materials are promising candidates because of their high ionic conductivity at room temperature [1]. They are also easier to process than oxides like NASICONs thanks to their relative softness. However, these compounds have a smaller electrochemical stability window and are sensitive to moisture. Anion/cation substitution can improve the ionic conductivity of the electrolyte by creating defects in the structure. It also has an influence on their stability. Recent sodium thiophosphate electrolytes reported in the literature reach performances comparable to most Li-ion solid electrolytes with ionic conductivities exceeding 1 mS/cm at room temperature [2]. Some phases [3,4] could even surpass LGPS-type materials, which are the Li-ion reference with an ionic conductivity over 10 mS/cm at room temperature.

[1] Y. Wang et al., Nano Materials Science 1 (2019) 91-100 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nanoms.2019.02.007

[2] Z; Yu et al., Adv. Mater., 29 (2017), p.1605561 - https://doi.org/10.1002/adma.201605561

[3] A; Hayashi et al., Nature Communications (2019) 10:5266 - https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-019-13178-2

[4] T; Famprikis et al., ACS Materials Letters (2019), 1, 6, 641–646 - https://doi.org/10.1021/acsmaterialslett.9b00322

Taking advantage of the laboratory knowledge and of literature, the intern will develop an Na-ion solid conductor via different synthesis routes and compare their physico-chemical characteristics (XRD, SEM, granulometry, …). Different substitution strategies will be studied to modulate the solid electrolyte’s performances. The objective is to establish a link between physico-chemical properties of the electrolyte and its performances.

Education and Experience

Niveau bac+4/+5 (2 ème ou 3 ème année d’école d’ingénieur ou équivalent)

Skills

Science des matériaux inorganiques

Diffraction X et cristallographie

Intérêt pour le stockage de l’énergie et l’électrochimie 

Maîtrise de la bureautique, de l’anglais et des outils bibliographiques

Additional Information

6 mois

Premier semestre 2021