No 666/2014
Project coordinator: Dr.phys. Janis Kleperis
The project is organized as synergy between such science branches as Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Materialscience, Chemical Engineering and Environmental Engineering and project consortium consists of five scientific institutions: Institute of Solid State Physics, University of Latvia (project manager), Latvian State Institute of Wood Chemistry, Faculty of Biology, University of Latvia, Faculty of Chemistry, University of Latvia and Institute of Inorganic Chemistry, Riga Technical University. The aim of the project is to obtain and investigate thin layers of composites from controlled porosity carbon and lithium insertion compounds for electrodes in lithium/hybrid batteries (LIB) and in microbial fuel cells (MBFC) for energy storage and conversion applications. Objectives of the project are associated with synthesis and investigation of separate materials to be used for composites to obtain electrodes for LIB and MBFC: carbonaceous materials from Latvian wood and lignocellulosics with controllable pore size, lithium insertion materials (LiFePO4, etc.), lithium solid electrolyte materials and ionic liquids with lithium salts; hydrogen insertion materials (hydride-forming metals, some transition metal oxides); selected microorganisms and substrates for hydrogen evolution and energy harvesting in fermentation process. Specific tasks are the study of structural, morphological, physical-chemical properties, porosity of synthesized materials and composites; investigation of their electrochemical and impedance characteristics in the form of bulk material; development of methodology to obtain a thin layers from elaborated composites, using DC and AC magnetron sputtering, pulsed laser deposition methods; design of MBFC and fermentation reactors and investigation of compatibility of elaborated composite electrode materials with selected microorganisms and substrates . Practical outputs will be the all solid state thin film lithium ion battery and mixed thin/thick layer LIB and MBFC. The project will result in new knowledge about carbon materials with the necessary properties for electrodes to obtain all-solid-state and thin/thick film lithium ion batteries, hybrid batteries; lithium liquid solution electrolyte and hydrogen insertion electrodes for fermentation reactors and microbial fuel cells.