Impedance Spectroscopy for the Study of Electrochemical Power Sources

Abstract

The development of performant principal or back-up energy storage for electronics devices is one of the most important issues for their manufacturers. The race for miniaturization of microelectronics components makes the way to the development of much smaller devices in which the integration of a conventional battery is no longer possible. The unsuitability of such batteries for these new applications may cover different aspects: oversize of battery compared with size of electronic device, poor lifetime inducing increased exploitation and maintenance costs to replace the battery, safety issues like solvent leaks causing corrosive damages. All-solid-state thin film batteries have many advantages over conventional lithium cells, and thus are developed by several laboratories, start-ups or industrial manufacturers. They are bendable, thin and safe with a long service lifetime and can be produced with a customizable shape for an optimized integration in advanced system designs. Finally, these microbatteries built without a liquid electrolyte comply with safety and environmental standards. The first applications planned for microbatteries are numerous around the emerging Internet of Things market: RFID Tags, autonomous sensors for building and home automation, powered SmartCards, wellness and sportswear microsystems. One of the major challenges to ensure mass production is to reduce the final testing time and its associated cost, whereas the common protocol implies to cycle the cells. In this context, the use of Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy (EIS) is the most promising tool for a fast assessment of the production. This technique is usually used for liquid electrolyte batteries but less with thin film batteries because of the difficulty to work with a two electrode system. Indeed, the monolithic architecture of the cell prevents any disassembly or third electrode insertion. Moreover unlike liquid systems, electrode/electrolyte solid/solid interfaces are often rough with poorer contacts [1,2]. AC impedance was used here to understand the microbattery behavior and finally propose a methodology for the qualification test procedure.


References

1. Y. Iriyama, T. Kako, C. Yada, T. Abe, Z. Ogumi, Solid State Ionics, 2005, 176, 2371
2. B. J. Neudecker, N. J. Dudney, J. B. Bates, J. Electrochem. Soc., 2000, 147, 517


Biography

Professor Sylvain Franger is currently a professor at Paris-Saclay University (France). Pr Franger obtained BSc and PhD from Sorbonne University (France). He is expert in batteries for the European Commission and different governmental agencies. He is a guest editor for the journals “Batteries” from MDPI and “Battery electrochemistry” from Frontiers. He wrote 70 papers and filled 9 patents, related to electrochemical systems for sustainable energy.