Keynote: Mathematical Modeling of SEI Growth

The solid electrolyte interphase (SEI) is a layer on lithium-ion battery electrodes that is known to grow on the surface of a graphite anode during various cell conditions: trickle charge, open circuit, and cycling.

In this keynote talk from COMSOL Day: Batteries & Fuel Cells, Ralph White of the University of South Carolina explains why mathematical modeling is useful for understanding batteries: it helps you "look inside the battery". During the presentation, he also shares common misconceptions about battery systems and SEI, as well as what goes into developing a model that explains SEI formation. He also speaks on the soundness of existing models used for analyzing cells under various conditions and touches on how a combination of kinetic and diffusion models can be used to improve predictions. The presentation concludes with an example of how capacity loss in a lithium-ion battery can be modeled in the COMSOL Multiphysics^® software.

Ralph White is a professor of chemical engineering at the University of South Carolina and holds a PhD from the University of California-Berkeley. White and his research group are working on projects in the areas of fuel cells, batteries, electrodeposition, corrosion, and numerical methods.

Suggested Resource

Download the 1D Lithium-Ion Battery Model for the Capacity Fade Tutorial model.