Henrik Rodenburg

For the development of the next generation of batteries, many researchers have turned to solid-state electrolytes/ion conductors because they can enable safer and high energy density batteries. [1] Solid electrolytes are inorganic or polymer-based solids in which ions move freely within the material. Lithium and sodium ion conductors have received particularly much attention as they are crucial for high capacity and low cost batteries based on lithium and sodium metals. Many different types of solid electrolytes have been developed in recent times [1]. Although the focus has mostly been on materials in which the cations are the mobile ion of interest, solids in which anions (such as H^–, OH^–, O^2-, F^– and Cl^–) are highly mobile, are also interesting for a variety of electrochemical processes such as batteries, fuel cells, electrolysis, chemical sensors and catalysis. Unfortunately, most of the currently known anion conductors show high conductivity only at elevated temperatures.

The focus of my work is on the development of novel solid-state anion conductors, in particular hydride, hydroxyl, and halide ion conductors, with high ionic conductivity at moderate temperatures. The goal is to investigate how strategies such as ion substitution, nanoconfinement and interface engineering can be used to increase the mobility of the anions at moderate temperatures, and without increasing the mobility of the cations [2, 3]. It is crucial to develop methods for preparing novel solid state anion conductors and to gain fundamental understanding of the factors that influence the anion mobility in the materials. Hence the prepared materials will be characterized with different techniques and their properties/performance in (electro)chemical energy conversion and storage applications will be evaluated. The resulting insights should be captured in a model, which could later be extended to other types of mobile ions.

References:

1. Z. Zhang et al., Energy Environ Sci. 2018, 11, 1945-1976
2. C. Pfaffenhuber et al., Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys. 2013, 15, 18318
3. Z. Zou et al., Chem. Rev. 2020, 120, 9, 4169-4221

C.V.

October 2020 – Present
PhD candidate at the Materials Chemistry and Catalysis group, Utrecht University, The Netherlands. Supervised by Dr. Peter Ngene and Prof. Petra de Jongh.

March 2020 – July 2020
Research and development intern at Jacobs Douwe Egberts in Utrecht, The Netherlands. Supervised by Aart Biesheuvel and Prof. Albert Philipse.

Education

September 2018 – July 2020
MSc Nanomaterials Science, Utrecht University, The Netherlands. Master’s thesis entitled “Measuring the ion-specific heat of electrical double layer formation in porous carbon.” Supervised by Joren Vos and Dr. Ben Erné.

September 2015 – July 2018
BSc Chemistry, Utrecht University, The Netherlands. Bachelor’s thesis entitled “Residual density features near atoms in special positions.” Supervised by Dr. Martin Lutz.