PRIN-PNRR 2022

The project BATtery Modeling, Experiments & Numerics (BAT-MEN), funded by the European Union – NextGenerationEU – would contribute to enhance the efficiency and the lifetime of the batteries by exploiting the synergy between numerical mathematics and the experimental world of batteries. Therefore, this proposal fits very well in the scopes of the PNRR themes for the energetic transition. In particular, BAT-MEN would face the above issues according to an interdisciplinary approach along the following research lines:

1) Mathematical modeling to predict and control unstable metal growth, formation of dendrites and charge-recharge cycling behaviour at the battery electrodes. The main goal is to define a methodological framework to study different physico-chemical aspects of these phenomena in terms of evolutionary PDE systems 2D and 3D in space, including bulk-surface PDEs, phase-field modeling, stochastic kinetics.

2) Accurate and innovative numerical algorithms for computer simulation of the processes described by the above models for several physico-chemical parameter choices and generation of codes to solve them efficiently in realistic cases.

3) Deep Learning techniques for: i) comparison between simulations and experimental data (like time series describing the charging-recharging cycles and microscopy images of electrode degradation); ii) identification of crucial model parameters to enable rationalization of battery material evolution.

The expected impact of BAT-MEN consists in the construction of a conceptual platform to rationalize the battery electrical response on the basis of materials-relevant quantities, throught the interplay between modeling, coding and data analysis, today indispensable tools to design efficient and sustanaible use of energy resources.

Website of the project