Accelerating Automated Electrochemistry Workflows Through Python API

An EIS and CV case study 

Jeffrey Lopez, PhD
Chemical Engineering

Jeffrey Lopez

Assistant Professor of
Chemical and Biological Engineering

Northwestern University

Abstract

Environmental challenges are reshaping the way we generate and consume energy on a global scale. In order to minimize the human and economic costs of climate change, we must accelerate the electrification of transportation and industry and decarbonize our electricity generation. These transformations are enabled by electrochemical energy storage devices, such as the batteries in electric vehicles and on the grid. The two key components of a battery are the electrodes which dictate the battery’s energy content and the electrolyte which shuttles ions between the electrodes while electrons move through an external circuit. While new electrode materials for high energy density or low-cost batteries have been identified, the application of these promising electrode materials is limited by their poor stability at the interface with the electrolyte during cycling. Many successful electrolytes that are compatible with next-generation battery electrodes are complex mixtures with >4 components, yet the discovery process is mainly driven by manual trial and error.

High throughput and automated experimental platforms are uniquely suited to address material discovery in high complexity parameter space. The success of these platforms is dependent on their ability to efficiently coordinate operations between multiple hardware components. Using Gamry’s new Toolkitpy Python API, we have integrated automated electrochemical measurements seamlessly into our robotic formulation platform. A key advantage of the python potentiostat API is the ability to call functions directly in programs that also operate our robotic arm, pumps, heaters, etc.. With this platform we have developed an integrated workflow from formulation to analysis in a unified environment. This workflow lends itself to quickly set up electrolyte discovery and optimization loops with custom electrochemical cells to rapidly analyze the electrolyte’s stability window and conductivity. 

Education

Intelligence Community Postdoctoral Fellow, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA

Ph.D. Chemical Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, CA

B.S. in Chemical Engineering, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, NE