SBIR Phase I: Air-breathing electrochemical devices for long-duration grid-scale energy storage

这个小企业创新研究（SBIR）项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力是释放可再生能源发电的全部潜力，如风能和太阳能光伏发电，通过增加这些发电资产的超低成本能源储存，与化石燃料的可调度性和可靠性相匹配。可再生能源与超低成本、长时间储能的结合，催生了一种新的发电资产——“基本负荷可再生能源”，这将进一步推动美国的能源独立，并在风能和太阳能行业占据领导地位。由于其基本的成本地位和/或无法扩展，现有的储能技术无法满足这些长期储能应用的价格和性能要求；即使是最激进的价格预测也表明，锂离子电池的价格对于这些应用来说太高了一个数量级。SBIR一期项目建议开发超低成本（20美元/千瓦时）、长时间（24小时额定持续时间）的储能解决方案，使可再生能源发电成为一种具有成本效益、广泛应用的替代化石燃料发电的方法。空气呼吸式水硫电池为系统级长时间存储资产的开发提供了一个独特的平台，满足了这些严格的成本和性能目标。该技术平台利用低成本、丰富的化学物质，如硫、水和空气，实现了超低成本的电化学储能系统。在该SBIR的第一阶段，将开发并演示一个吸气式储能装置的原型，该装置将显著降低该技术的电力成本（每千瓦美元）。这将通过系统地研究和优化电化学活性和非活性材料，以及设计针对长时间呼吸式电化学系统进行优化的电池和系统架构来实现。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) project is to unleash the full potential of renewable electricity generation sources such as wind and solar photovoltaic by augmenting those generation assets with ultra-low-cost energy storage that matches the dispatchability and dependability of fossil fuels. The combination of renewable generation sources with ultra-low-cost, long-duration energy storage enables a new class of generation assets "baseload renewables" which further US energy independence and leadership in the wind and solar industries. Due to their fundamental cost positions and/or inability to scale, existing energy storage technologies are unable to meet the price and performance requirements for these long-duration energy storage applications; even the most aggressive forecasts for pricing indicate that lithium ion batteries are an order of magnitude too expensive for these applications. This SBIR Phase I project proposes to develop ultra-low-cost ($20/kWh), long-duration (24h rated duration) energy storage solutions to enable renewable generation sources to be a cost effective, widespread, drop-in replacement to fossil fuel electricity generation. Air-breathing aqueous sulfur batteries provide a unique platform for the development of system-level long-duration storage assets meeting these stringent cost and performance targets. The technology platform leverages low-cost, abundant chemicals such as sulfur, water, and air, to enable an ultra-low-cost electrochemical energy storage system. In Phase I of this SBIR, a prototype air-breathing energy storage device will be developed and demonstrated that significantly reduces the power cost ($/kW) of this technology. This will be achieved by systematically investigating and optimizing the electrochemical active and inactive materials and by designing cell and system architectures which are optimized for long-duration air-breathing electrochemical systems.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.