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    Lightweight polymer-carbon composite current collector for lithium-ion batteries
    (Basel : MDPI, 2020) Fritsch, Marco; Coeler, Matthias; Kunz, Karina; Krause, Beate; Marcinkowski, Peter; Pötschke, Petra; Wolter, Mareike; Michaelis, Alexander
    A hermetic dense polymer-carbon composite-based current collector foil (PCCF) for lithium-ion battery applications was developed and evaluated in comparison to state-of-the-art aluminum (Al) foil collector. Water-processed LiNi0.5Mn1.5O4 (LMNO) cathode and Li4Ti5O12 (LTO) anode coatings with the integration of a thin carbon primer at the interface to the collector were prepared. Despite the fact that the laboratory manufactured PCCF shows a much higher film thickness of 55 µm compared to Al foil of 19 µm, the electrode resistance was measured to be by a factor of 5 lower compared to the Al collector, which was attributed to the low contact resistance between PCCF, carbon primer and electrode microstructure. The PCCF-C-primer collector shows a sufficient voltage stability up to 5 V vs. Li/Li+ and a negligible Li-intercalation loss into the carbon primer. Electrochemical cell tests demonstrate the applicability of the developed PCCF for LMNO and LTO electrodes, with no disadvantage compared to state-of-the-art Al collector. Due to a 50% lower material density, the lightweight and hermetic dense PCCF polymer collector offers the possibility to significantly decrease the mass loading of the collector in battery cells, which can be of special interest for bipolar battery architectures. © 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
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    Experimental and computational analysis of thermoelectric modules based on melt-mixed polypropylene composites
    (Amsterdam : Elsevier, 2023) Doraghi, Qusay; Żabnieńska-Góra, Alina; Norman, Les; Krause, Beate; Pötschke, Petra; Jouhara, Hussam
    Researchers are constantly looking for new materials that exploit the Seebeck phenomenon to convert heat into electrical energy using thermoelectric generators (TEGs). New lead-free thermoelectric materials are being investigated as part of the EU project InComEss, with one of the anticipated uses being converting wasted heat into electric energy. Such research aims to reduce the production costs as well as the environmental impact of current TEG modules which mostly employ bismuth for their construction. The use of polymers that, despite lower efficiency, achieve increasingly higher values of electrical conductivity and Seebeck coefficients at a low heat transfer coefficient is increasingly discussed in the literature. This article presents two thermoelectric generator (TEG) models based on data previously described in the literature. Two types of designs are presented: consisting of 4- and 49-leg pairs of p- and n-type composites based on polypropylene melt-mixed with single-walled carbon nanotubes. The models being developed using COMSOL Multiphysics software and validated based on measurements carried out in the laboratory. Based on the results of the analysis, conductive polymer composites employing insulating matrices can be considered as a promising material of the future for TEG modules.