SBIR Phase I: Planar ZEBRA Battery Development

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This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project is on the development of a planar, highly compact, sodium-beta rechargeable battery using sodium-ion conducting beta alumina solid electrolyte disc (Na-BASE) sandwiched between a liquid sodium and a nickel chloride salt, (p-ZEBRA battery). All commercially available sodium-beta battery technologies use thick Na-BASE tubes, resulting in relatively low specific energy densities and large thermal masses that inhibit fast thermal cycling. In this project, highly performing planar Na-BASE discs, possessing high strength and high resistance to moisture and CO2 attack, will be developed and manufactured using a patented vapor phase process. The p- ZEBRA battery allows operation over a wide temperature range from 200ºC to 400ºC, delivering the integration and operation flexibility suitable for intermittent renewable energy storage applications (wind, solar power and geothermal) with high round-trip efficiencies, or thermal integration with internal-combustion engines or solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) for plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) applications with extended driving range. The broader/commercial impacts of this research are to provide a low cost, highly reliable electric energy storage system, which integrates with a broad spectrum of power generation systems. It includes the fast market penetration renewable energy power systems that mitigate grid transient issues, and gasoline internal-combustion engines or advanced SOFCs for PHEV with extended driving distances. The successful development and deployment of the proposed p-ZEBRA battery technology will assist the US with building critical new industry and reinstating US leadership in large-scale electric energy storages.