SBIR Phase I: Low Cost, High Capacity Lithium-Ion Batteries Based On Nano-Structured Silicon Anodes And Ionic Liquid Electrolytes

这个小企业创新研究第一阶段项目将介绍一种制造锂离子电池应用的高容量硅纳米线阳极的新方法。Si具有任何阳极材料中最高的锂吸收容量（4200 mAh/g），而当今锂离子电池中的现有阳极材料的容量仅为372 mAh/g。然而，Si阳极的采用受到以下事实的限制：由于在循环期间的体积膨胀，体Si粉碎。纳米结构的Si并不重要，然而，制造纳米结构的Si阳极的方法要么昂贵，要么不适合大规模制造，要么受到比容量的限制。所提出的方法估计是低成本的，可扩展的制造，并不遭受任何的技术限制，用于制造基于纳米结构的硅阳极的当前技术。研究人员还建议优化纳米线的形态和结构，以最大限度地提高阳极容量，并使其能够承受超过1,000次循环，并保持足够的容量。此外，研究人员建议将离子液体电解质与Si纳米线阳极整合在一起，这有望显示出高电压稳定性。 这个项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力是真正的变革。 这项研究将导致更好地了解电化学反应的细胞利用硅纳米线阳极。制造阳极的新方法可以用于其他技术，例如热电器件，气体/化学传感器和生物医学器件。预计这种低成本技术的商业影响也将非常显著。迄今报道的具有Si纳米结构的电池使用昂贵的方法来制造纳米线和集电器。研究人员设想，他们独特的破坏性方法将使超高容量阳极（~3000 mAh/g）大规模成为可能。阳极容量的增加将导致整个电池组的能量密度估计增加50%-60%。由于锂离子电池预计将在消费设备存储以及工业和电动汽车（EV）应用中发挥越来越大的作用，这将产生巨大的社会和环境影响。首先，电动汽车可以在不充电的情况下行驶的范围将扩大，从而导致电动汽车的广泛采用。电池容量的增加还将为使用可再生能源的住宅和电网存储提供解决方案。

This Small Business Innovation Research Phase 1 project will introduce a novel method of manufacturing a high capacity Si nanowire anode for Li-ion battery applications. Si has the highest lithium absorption capacity of any anode material (4200 mAh/g) whereas the incumbent anode material in today's Li-ion batteries has a capacity of only 372 mAh/g. The adoption of Si anodes however, is limited by the fact that bulk Si pulverizes due to volume expansion during cycling. Nanostructured Si does not pulverize, however, the approaches to make nanostructured Si anodes are either expensive, or not suitable for mass manufacturing, or limited by specific capacity. The proposed method is estimated to be low cost, scalable for manufacturing, and does not suffer from any of the technical limitations of current technologies used to fabricate anodes based on nanostructured Si. The researchers also propose to optimize the nanowire morphology and architecture for maximizing the anode capacity and enabling it to withstand more than 1,000 cycles with sufficient capacity retention. Furthermore, the researchers propose to integrate an ionic liquid electrolyte with the Si nanowire anode, which is expected to show high voltage stability. The broader impact / commercial potential of this project is truly transformational. This research will lead to a better understanding of electrochemical reactions in cells utilizing Si nanowire anodes. The novel approach to fabricate the anode may find use in other technologies such as in thermoelectric devices, gas / chemical sensors, and biomedical devices. The commercial impact of this low-cost technology is also expected to be highly significant. The batteries with Si nanostructures reported to-date have used expensive methods to create nanowires and current collectors. The researchers envision that their unique and disruptive approach will make ultra-high capacity anodes (~3000 mAh/g) possible on a large scale. The increase in anode capacity will result in an estimated 50%-60% increase in energy density for the total battery pack. Since Li-ion batteries are expected to play an increasingly larger role in consumer device storage as well as in industrial and electric vehicle (EV) applications, this would have a tremendous social and environmental impact. For one, the range that EVs can travel without a charge will be extended, thereby leading to widespread adoption of EVs. The increased battery capacity will also lead to solutions for residential and grid storage wherever renewable energy is used.