The paper presents a multidimensional modeling framework for simulating coupled thermal and electrochemical phenomena in lithium-ion batteries.Understanding the distribution of current density, potential, and temperature is critical for designing lithium-ion batteries for improved safety and durability, as well as for conducting effective design optimization studies. We have developed a model that retains the details of diffusion, migration, and charge-transfer kinetics in the various phases in a lithium-ion battery, while introducing computational techniques that allow us to efficiently calculate the transient current and temperature distributions in a three-dimensional stack. Several modeling example results are presented showing the influence of cooling system design and thermal effects on current distribution within a cell and between cells in a stack.

Spectrally encoded fluorescent beads are an attractive platform for assay miniaturization and multiplexing in the biological sciences. Here, we synthesize hydrophilic PEG-acrylate polymer beads encoded with lanthanide nanophosphors using a fully automated microfluidic synthesis device. These beads are encoded by including varying amounts of two lanthanide nanophosphors relative to a third reference nanophosphor to generate 24 distinct ratios. These codes differ by less than 3% from their target values and can be distinguished from each other with an error rate of <0.1%. The encoded bead synthesis strategy we have used is readily extensible to larger numbers of codes, potentially up to millions, providing a new platform technology for assay multiplexing.