Continuous, Roll-to-Roll Manufacturing and Assembly of Yeast-derived Carbon Nanotube-based Lithium-Sulphur Batteries

酵母源碳纳米管锂硫电池的连续卷对卷制造和组装

• 批准号: 1728042
• 负责人: Xiaodong Li
• 金额: $ 32万
• 依托单位: University of Virginia Main Campus
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2017
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2017-09-01 至 2021-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1728042&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Continuous; Roll; Manufacturing; Assembly; Yeast

Batteries for electrical energy storage have become ubiquitous in a world of portable and mobile electronics. However, current lithium-ion battery technology suffers from several key limitations, such as, high cost, limited energy storage density, poor durability, and severe environmental impact. These shortcomings limit the viability of many important emerging technologies, such as electric vehicles and off-peak storage for renewable energy generation systems. Batteries based on a lithium-sulphur (Li-S) chemistry can theoretically achieve energy densities six times greater than conventional lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries but have typical lifetimes of only 100 recharge cycles. This award studies new approaches to the manufacture of electrodes for lithium-sulphur batteries that have long lifespan and are affordable. Preliminary results have demonstrated that a battery cathode can be manufactured by high temperature carbonization of wheat dough creating a porous carbon network. The resulting carbon foam structure is covered with carbon nanotubes, which enables a dense loading of sulphur nanoparticles to increase energy capacity. The porous carbon/carbon nanotube scaffold structure prevents the degradation of the active sulphur material, extending the durability of the battery to over 4000 cycles. The battery components are assembled through a scalable, continuous, and high-throughput process from low-cost precursors, which also contributes to improved environmental sustainability. This research develops new paradigms for design and nanomanufacturing of energy storage devices. These research advances are disseminated to K-12, undergraduate, and graduate students, as well as the general public through targeted courses, seminars, and publications.The research objective of the project is to address key technological and engineering barriers to achieving high-throughput manufacturing of batteries with exceptionally high energy and power densities and ultra-long lifespan. The approach is to derive electrode materials from a readily available, low cost, environmentally-benign material, specifically, wheat dough. The project addresses research gaps such as severe capacity degradation, incomplete sulfur utilization, and the severe 'shuttle effect' of dissolvable intermediates during the electrochemical reaction process. Research activities feature a systems-level focus spanning (1) synthesis of the mesoporous activated carbon/carbon nanotube scaffolds, (2) roll-to-roll manufacturing of the developed cathode into Li-S batteries, and (3) structural and mechanical characterization of electrode materials to evaluate the role of structure on battery degradation. The primary contributions of this work are to improve the effective conductivity of the sulphur cathode by embedding sulphur nanoparticles within a highly-conductive activated carbon/carbon nanotube scaffold and to study how the structure impedes electrode degradation by inhibiting the 'shuttle effect' and limiting reaction volume changes. The fundamental mechanism of the one-step synthesis of carbon nanotubes on carbonized yeast from wheat dough is determined. A prototype automated roll-to-roll manufacturing process is devised to produce high-performance Li-S batteries.

在便携式和移动电子产品的世界里，用于电能存储的电池已经变得无处不在。然而，目前的锂离子电池技术存在成本高、储能密度有限、耐用性差、对环境影响严重等几个关键限制。这些缺陷限制了许多重要新兴技术的生存能力，例如电动汽车和可再生能源发电系统的非高峰储存。基于锂硫(Li-S)化学的电池理论上可以实现比传统锂离子(Li-ion)电池高6倍的能量密度，但典型的寿命仅为100次充电循环。该奖项研究制造锂硫电池电极的新方法，这些电极具有长寿命和负担得起的价格。初步结果表明，通过高温碳化小麦面团形成多孔碳网络，可以制造电池正极。由此产生的碳泡沫结构被碳纳米管覆盖，这使得硫纳米颗粒能够被致密地负载以增加能量容量。多孔碳/碳纳米管支架结构防止了活性硫材料的降解，将电池的寿命延长到4000次以上。电池组件是通过低成本前体通过可扩展、连续和高通量工艺组装而成，这也有助于改善环境可持续性。这项研究为储能设备的设计和纳米制造开发了新的范例。这些研究进展通过有针对性的课程、研讨会和出版物向K-12、本科生和研究生以及普通公众传播。该项目的研究目标是解决实现高通量制造具有极高能量和功率密度和超长寿命的电池的关键技术和工程障碍。该方法是从容易获得的、低成本的、环境友好的材料中获得电极材料，特别是小麦面团。该项目解决了一些研究空白，如严重的产能退化、不完全的硫利用以及电化学反应过程中可溶中间体的严重“穿梭效应”。研究活动集中在系统层面，包括(1)介孔活性碳/碳纳米管支架的合成，(2)开发的锂-S电池正极的卷对卷制造，以及(3)电极材料的结构和机械表征，以评估结构对电池退化的作用。这项工作的主要贡献是通过在高导电性的活性碳/碳纳米管支架中嵌入硫纳米颗粒来提高硫阴极的有效导电性，并研究该结构如何通过抑制‘穿梭效应’和限制反应体积的变化来阻止电极的降解。确定了小麦面团碳化酵母一步法制备碳纳米管的基本机理。设计了一种用于生产高性能锂S电池的自动化卷对卷制造工艺的原型。

项目成果

B4C nanoskeleton enabled, flexible lithium-sulfur batteries

• DOI: 10.1016/j.nanoen.2019.01.018
• 发表时间: 2019-04
• 期刊: Nano Energy
• 影响因子: 17.6
• 作者: Ningning Song;Zan Gao;Yunya Zhang;Xiaodong Li

Graphene and its derivatives in lithium–sulfur batteries

• DOI: 10.1016/j.mtener.2018.06.001
• 发表时间: 2018-09
• 期刊: Materials Today Energy
• 影响因子: 9.3
• 作者: Yunya Zhang;Zan Gao;Ningning Song;Jiajun He;Xiaodong Li

Upcycling of paper waste for high-performance lithium-sulfur batteries

• DOI: 10.1016/j.mtener.2020.100591
• 发表时间: 2020-11
• 期刊: Materials Today Energy
• 影响因子: 9.3
• 作者: Yucheng Zhou;Yunya Zhang;Xiaodong Li

Converting eggs to flexible, all-solid supercapacitors

• DOI: 10.1016/j.nanoen.2019.104045
• 发表时间: 2019-11
• 期刊: Nano Energy
• 影响因子: 17.6
• 作者: Yunya Zhang;Jiajun He;Zan Gao;Xiaodong Li

Carbon Nanotubes Derived from Yeast-Fermented Wheat Flour and Their Energy Storage Application

• DOI: 10.1021/acssuschemeng.8b01292
• 发表时间: 2018-09-01
• 期刊: ACS SUSTAINABLE CHEMISTRY & ENGINEERING
• 影响因子: 8.4
• 作者: Gao, Zan;Song, Ningning;Li, Xiaodong
• 通讯作者: Li, Xiaodong