I-Corps: Hybrid Protein Graphene Electrodes for Supercapacitors

I-Corps：用于超级电容器的混合蛋白石墨烯电极

• 批准号: 1620998
• 负责人: Daniel Cox
• 金额: $ 5万
• 依托单位: University of California-Davis
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2016
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2016-02-15 至 2016-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1620998&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Corps; Hybrid; Protein; Graphene; Electrodes

Our modern technical society needs devices able to store and deliver energy effectively, for applications including i) mobile electronic devices (ii) electric transport via cars, electric bikes, "hoverboards" and other vehicles (iii) implanted biomedical sensor devices, and (iv) electrical energy storage for alternative power sources such as windmills and photovoltaics, because "the wind doesn?t always blow, and the sun doesn?t always shine." Current commercial storage is dominated by batteries, especially lithium ion batteries ubiquitous in cell phones, laptops, Tesla electric vehicles, etc, because they have the highest energy density by weight. However, batteries can heat up (not desirable for medical implants), contain toxic components (as in the lead acid batteries common in electric bikes), and have safety issues (witness the string of fires in "hoverboards" recently). It is worth examining other options like supercapacitors, which store energy by nonchemical, nontoxic means, can deliver electrical energy far more rapidly than batteries, and which do not heat or represent fire danger. While supercapacitors have long occupied niche markets as secondary power sources or for rapid charging applications, they do not store as much energy per unit mass as lithium ion batteries, and conventional designs are more expensive, based dominantly on the cost and materials in the supercapacitor charging terminals (electrodes). This I-Corps team proposes a new approach that combines the revolutionary material graphene with designed proteins to provide supercapacitor electrodes that are cheaper and have high energy density and so could be disruptive for the energy storage market. In the short term, this I-Corps team hopes to produce low cost, environmentally benign small supercapacitors which can potentially be used in medical devices (since they do not heat up and are benign), niche transportation applications (such as replacement for batteries in e-bikes and cars), and potentially novel devices such as nontoxic, non-flame based biodegradable replacements for flares. In the long term, they could help supply reliable and quickly discharged electrical grid storage to go hand-in-hand with intermittent energy generation from renewables so that the transfer of electricity remains stable and disruption free. During the I-Corps program, the team intends to interview stakeholders in general energy storage technologies, grid storage (from the storage provider side and the energy storage side), home energy storage, energy storage in medical devices, and energy storage in various transportation contexts, especially e-bikes and cars. The team does not plan to go after energy storage in the consumer electronics market, where the technology is sufficiently mature.

我们的现代技术社会需要能够有效存储和输送能量的设备，其应用包括：i）移动电子设备（ii）通过汽车、电动自行车、“悬浮滑板”和其他车辆进行电力运输（iii）植入生物医学传感器设备，以及（iv）用于风车和光伏等替代能源的电能存储，因为“风并不总是吹，太阳并不总是照耀”。 目前的商业存储以电池为主，特别是手机、笔记本电脑、特斯拉电动汽车等中普遍存在的锂离子电池，因为它们具有最高的重量能量密度。 然而，电池可能会发热（对于医疗植入物来说是不理想的）、含有有毒成分（如电动自行车中常见的铅酸电池），并且存在安全问题（看看最近“悬浮滑板”中发生的一系列火灾）。 值得研究其他选择，例如超级电容器，它通过非化学、无毒的方式存储能量，可以比电池更快地提供电能，并且不会发热或存在火灾危险。 虽然超级电容器长期以来作为二次电源或快速充电应用占据着利基市场，但它们每单位质量存储的能量不如锂离子电池那么多，而且传统设计成本更高，这主要取决于超级电容器充电端子（电极）的成本和材料。 I-Corps 团队提出了一种新方法，将革命性材料石墨烯与设计的蛋白质相结合，提供更便宜且具有高能量密度的超级电容器电极，因此可能对储能市场产生颠覆性影响。在短期内，I-Corps 团队希望生产低成本、环境友好的小型超级电容器，这些电容器可用于医疗设备（因为它们不会发热且无害）、利基运输应用（例如电动自行车和汽车电池的替代品）以及潜在的新颖设备，例如无毒、非火焰的可生物降解照明弹替代品。从长远来看，它们可以帮助提供可靠且快速放电的电网存储，与可再生能源的间歇性发电相结合，从而使电力传输保持稳定且不受干扰。在I-Corps项目期间，团队打算采访通用储能技术、电网存储（来自存储提供商方和储能方）、家庭储能、医疗设备储能以及各种交通环境中的储能（尤其是电动自行车和汽车）的利益相关者。 该团队并不打算进军消费电子市场的储能领域，因为该领域的技术已经足够成熟。