报告人简介：

Cheng Yan received his Ph.D. from the University of Sydney in 1998. He is a professor at the School of Mechanical, Medical, and Process Engineering, Queensland University of Technology, Australia. His main research interest is nanocomposites, energy storage materials and mechanical characterization and numerical simulation of the structure-property relation in materials. In addition to two Australia Research Council fellowships (APD and ARF), he was awarded Sesqui fellowship by Sydney University, and inaugural Queensland International Fellowship and Nanotechnology Category Winner by Queensland government. He is editor or editorial member for 6 international journals and has published over 350 refereed journal papers and supervised to completion about 50 higher degree students.

报告内容：

Current lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries do not satisfy the increasing demands of portable electronic devices and electric vehicles, due to low energy densities, safety issues and high cost. High-capacity electrode materials are needed, and researchers have made significant progress over recent years. However, integrating these materials into practical cells has lagged due to several technical challenges. For example, volume expansion of active particles and mechanical stresses generated during cycling may cause cracking and interfacial debonding. Up to now, a fundamental understanding of particle deformation and fracture, volume changes, interfacial integrity and chemo-mechanics coupling is still lacking.

In this presentation, our work on development of electrode materials will be introduced, with a focus on highlighting the role of mechanical characterization and numerical simulations. For example, to overcome cracking and pulverization of Si active particles, graphene, liquid metals and various binders have been adopted and their effectiveness can be examined using mechanical characterization and numerical modelling. Together with using 2D and other novel materials, numerical modelling and mechanical characterization have been also used to understand ion diffusion, interface interactions and material degradation, benefiting the development of a range of rechargeable batteries such as Na-ion, Li-S and flexible batteries.