HDR : Development and fundamental characterisation of Li-ion and post-Li-ion batteries

Li-ion batteries are the technology of choice for portable electronics, hybrid and electric vehicles and stationary storage. However, the production of Li-ion batteries could face sustainability problems in the near future. These sustainability criteria are more than topical and imply broadening the scope of technologies that can compete with Li-ion batteries in the future. This habilitation manuscript brings together a number of research topics relating to high-potential Li-ion and post-Li-ion batteries, with a fundamental approach of exploring and developing materials and of understanding reaction mechanisms. We will detail work on the development of alloy electrodes and
aqueous electrolytes for Mg batteries. We will also discuss analytical developments using Nuclear Magnetic Resonance and synchrotron radiation to study operando the mechanisms governing Li-air and Mg-ion batteries respectively. Finally, a number of research projects for the coming years are being developed here, both on the design and understanding of aqueous batteries and on the development of advanced characterisation techniques. These two areas propose to rationalise the reactivity of aqueous batteries, depending on their nature, by studying their structure and reactivity and to push characterisation techniques to their limits.