Context:

CEA and CNRS collège de France lead the PEPR Batterie , a French National project with the objective to achieve the European Roadmap from Battery2030+ for the development of “smart battery” [1]. The Sensiga project is a part of PEPR Battery. This project aims to develop new sensors technologies for monitoring the critical parameters of the Lithium ion cells during cycling to improve performances, safety and ageing. This new sensors technology will increase the knowledge of the internal physical, chemical and electrochemical process occurs in the cell. The large amount of data measuring operando will be used to developing new algorithm and strategies to improve the battery management systems. In the context of the Sensiga project, doctoral and postdoctoral position was open at CEA for working on this topic with a multidisciplinary and laboratory team [1-5].

Proposal:

The aims of the work is to developing new sensing technology for in-situ and operando monitoring of the cell. The candidate will integrate a team specialized in the development of specific sensors for Lithium ion battery in the Laboratory of Postmortem Analysis and Security at CEA Grenoble.

The scope of the position will focus on the development of optical fibre sensors, the integration of theses sensors inside pouch cell and performing electrochemistry test for ageing study. This kind of sensors will be used to monitor the internal temperature, strain, and pressure and lithium concentration. The second type of sensors using in the project is the reference electrode using for electrode potential measurement. These data’s are crucial to access to the degradation mechanisms of each materials in operando. The candidate will be participate to the ageing test campaign and to the post-mortem analysis. This analysis compare to the ageing test will be used to identify the degradation mechanisms and correlate it to the sensors signal.

The candidate will integrate a multidisciplinary team and will interact with different laboratory in charge of the other part of the project (data analysis, modelling and simulation, battery management system, material characterisation, etc…)

Profile requirement for candidate:

The ideal candidate for this position will hold a PhD in physics. The candidate must have a strong skills and interest in instrumentation and optics, experimentation, data analysis and programing (python).

A first experience in electrochemistry and/or in  Lithium-ion cell analysis will be appreciate.

Soft skills: team working, multidisciplinary environment, fluent English, writing and reporting.

References

[1] Amici, J., et al. A Roadmap for Transforming Research to Invent the Batteries of the Future Designed within the European Large Scale Research Initiative BATTERY 2030+. Adv. Energy Mater. 2022, 12, 2102785. https://doi.org/10.1002/aenm.202102785

 [2] A. Olgo et al., “Revealing how internal sensors in a smart battery impact the local graphite lithiation mechanism,” Nature Communications, vol. 15, no. 1, Art. no. 1, 2024, doi: 10.1038/s41467-024-54656-6.

 [3] L. Matuck et al., “Towards smart and secure batteries: Linking pressure and temperature profiles with electrochemical behavior through hybrid optical fiber sensors,” Chemical Engineering Journal, vol. 500, 2024, doi: 10.1016/j.cej.2024.156806.

[4]  E. Villemin et al., “Thermo-luminescent optical fibre sensor for Li-ion cell internal temperature monitoring,” Journal of Power Sources, vol. 593, 2024, doi: 10.1016/j.jpowsour.2023.233981.

[5]  P. Kuntz et al., “Identification of degradation mechanisms by post-mortem analysis for high power and high energy commercial li-ion cells after electric vehicle aging,” Batteries, vol. 7, no. 3, Art. no. 3, 2021, doi: 10.3390/batteries7030048.