Batteries that do not depend on lithium are becoming increasingly important – not least because lithium is a limited and unevenly distributed resource. For such 'post-lithium' batteries to achieve high performance in the future, electrode materials are needed that can reliably and rapidly take up and release ions other than lithium over many charge cycles. Layered transition metal sulfides hold particular promise for this purpose, as their structure and chemical composition can be deliberately modified to control how effectively ions move through the material and how stable its electrochemical performance remains over time.
At the center of the project are bimetallic, layered transition metal sulfides as a flexible materials platform for electrochemical energy storage beyond lithium. A key component of the work is the synthesis of these materials: first, two metals are combined to form an alloy, which is then converted into bimetallic, layered transition metal dichalcogenides (B-TMDs) through sulfurization. This approach allows the material composition to be scalably adjusted and systematically investigated in terms of how changes in electronic structure, defects, and interlayer reactivity affect battery performance. Under the supervision of Dr. Simon Fleischmann, the Young Investigator Group Preparation Program (YIG Prep Pro) fellowship at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) supports the research of scientist Dr. Mete Batuhan Durukan on his path toward scientific independence.
By linking structural characterization with electrochemical measurement data, design principles for optimized, sulfide-based intercalation materials in post-lithium batteries are to be developed. The insights gained could, in the future, also prove useful beyond battery applications for other electrochemical technologies.