DMREF: Collaborative Research: Next-Generation Nanostructured Polymer Electrolytes by Molecular Design

加州理工学院的托马斯米勒和王振刚，加州大学伯克利分校的Nitash Balsara和康奈尔大学的Geoffrey科茨获得了化学部化学设计材料革命和工程师未来（DMREF）计划的奖项，以促进高性能，不易燃，用于可再充电锂电池的固体聚合物电解质。 该项目整合了材料理论和模拟、材料合成以及聚合物电解质材料表征方面的专业知识。 该项目涉及紧密耦合的研究方法，其中最先进的理论和粗粒化方法驱动新聚合物电解质的筛选和设计，以及对离子扩散机制的详细了解;有前途的聚合物电解质候选物在实验室中合成，并在全电池中测量和测试其离子传输特性。这项研究工作提供了基础和必要的知识，以开发对运输和其他大规模储能应用至关重要的电池技术。 安全、低成本、高性能电池的开发和部署是社会对负担得起的可靠储能的巨大需求。 研究工作的一个关键优势是模拟，理论，合成，表征和细胞组装之间的紧密集成和协同作用。 从实验验证的理论结构的指导允许新的聚合物电解质的重点设计。使用理论预先选择的这些材料的合成允许更快速地生产具有上级性质的材料。然后，材料特性的测量用于验证和进一步指导理论和建模。 追求这种综合的研究工作将导致一个显着的进展，实现合理的材料设计的目标，为聚合物系统。

Thomas Miller and Zhen-Gang Wang of the California Institute of Technology, Nitash Balsara of the University of California - Berkeley, and Geoffrey Coates of Cornell University are supported by an award from the Chemistry Designing Materials to Revolutionize and Engineer our Future (DMREF) program in the Chemistry division for a collaborative research effort aimed at advancing the development and discovery of high-performance, non-flammable, solid polymer electrolytes for rechargeable lithium batteries. The project integrates expertise in theory and simulation of materials, materials synthesis, and the characterization of polymer electrolyte materials. The project involves a tightly coupled research approach in which state-of-the-art theoretical and coarse-graining methods drive the screening and design of new polymer electrolytes, as well as the detailed understanding of ion diffusion mechanisms; promising polymer electrolyte candidates are synthesized in the laboratory, and their ion transport characteristics are measured and tested in full cells. This research effort is providing fundamental and essential knowledge to enable the development of battery technologies that are critical for transportation and other large-scale energy storage applications. The development and deployment of safe, low-cost, high-performance batteries is of great societal need for affordable and reliable energy storage. A key strength of the research effort is the tight integration and synergy between simulation, theory, synthesis, characterization, and cell assembly. Guidance from experimentally verified theoretical constructs allows the focused design of new polymer electrolytes. Synthesis of these materials, preselected using theory, allows for more rapid production of materials with superior properties. Measurement of material properties is then used to validate and further guide theory and modeling. Pursuit of this integrated research effort will lead to a significant progress towards the goal of rational materials design for polymer systems.