SBIR Phase II: Engineered Nanoporous Ceramic Membranes that Enable High-Performance and Low-Cost Flow Batteries

该SBIR第二阶段项目旨在开发一种用于恶劣环境的新型低成本分子过滤器。这是使用商品硅胶完成的，硅胶通常作为食品包装中的干燥剂，其毛孔只有几个分子宽。硅胶孔的大小和形状的精确调节使某些分子能够通过，而其他分子则被阻止通过。这些分子过滤器的一个很有前途的应用是它们在栅格级能量存储中的应用。液流电池可以储存城市大小的可再生能源。然而，它们需要使用昂贵的分子过滤器，而由于恶劣的电池环境，这些过滤器不容易更换。在这个SBIR二期项目期间开发的低成本过滤器有可能将液流电池的成本降低高达15%，使它们比电网规模的锂离子电池更便宜。成本更低的电网规模存储意味着可以增加更多的可再生能源发电(例如太阳能和风能)，而不会使电网不堪重负。低成本的分子过滤器也有商业上的优势，有可能在27亿美元的市场中占据相当大的一部分。正因为如此，该项目可在未来5年创造近15个就业机会和3900万美元的税收。该SBIR第二阶段项目正在开发一种分子选择性的溶胶-凝胶陶瓷膜，它不需要焙烧或高聚合物负载，而且在堆叠应用(例如燃料电池和液流电池)的压缩过程中也不会破裂。这是通过将选择性区域与被叠层压缩的膜的区域去耦合来实现的。这些膜将被用于提高全钒氧化还原液流电池(VRFB)的性能和降低成本。VRFB膜需要选择性地传输离子，但不需要传输钒离子。因此，大小和电荷排除膜必须严格控制孔大小、形状和网络结构，才能选择性地传输离子。为此，将利用溶胶-凝胶处理和表面电荷修饰来最大限度地提高质子电导率并限制钒离子的渗透性。优化的膜配方还必须具有优异的化学和机械稳定性；在数百次VRFB循环后不会发生降解。最后，膜必须从实验室大小(50 Cm2)扩展到商业大小(500 Cm2)，同时保持性能一致性。在SBIR第一阶段项目期间开发的低成本膜有可能将VRFB的成本降低高达15%。成本更低的电网规模存储意味着可以增加更多的可再生能源发电(例如太阳能和风能)，而不会使电网不堪重负。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This SBIR Phase II project seeks to develop a novel low-cost molecular filter for use in harsh environments. This is accomplished using commodity silica gel, commonly found as a desiccant in food packing, whose pores can be made to be only a few molecules wide. Accurate tuning of the size and shape of the silica gel pores enables certain molecules to pass through while others are blocked from passing. One promising application for these molecular filters is their use in grid-scale energy storage. Flow batteries could store city-sized quantities of renewable energy. However, they require the use of expensive molecular filters that are not easily replaced due to the harsh battery environments. The low-cost filters developed during this SBIR Phase II project have the potential to reduce the cost of flow batteries by as much as 15%, making them less expensive than grid-scale lithium ion batteries. Lower cost grid-scale storage means that more renewable energy generation (e.g., solar & wind) can be added without overwhelming the grid. Low cost molecular filter also has commercial upside with the potential to capture a significant fraction of the $2.7 billion-dollar market. Because of this, this project could generate nearly 15 jobs and $39 million dollars in tax revenue over the next 5 years.This SBIR Phase II Project is developing a molecularly selective sol-gel ceramic membrane that does not require calcination or high polymer loading but also does not fracture during compression in stack applications (e.g., fuel cells and flow batteries). This is accomplished by decoupling the selective region from the region of the membrane being compressed by the stack. These membranes will be utilized to improve the performance and reduce the costs of all-vanadium redox flow batteries (VRFB). VRFB membranes require selective transport of hydronium ions but not vanadium ions. Size and charge exclusion membranes must therefore have tight control over the pore size, shape and network structure to selectively transport ions. Towards this end, sol-gel processing and surface charge modification will be utilized to maximize proton conductivity and limit vanadium ion permeability. Optimized membrane formulations must also have excellent chemical and mechanical stability; showing no degradation after hundreds of VRFB cycles. Finally, membranes must be scaled from lab size (50 cm2) to commercial size ( 500cm2) while maintaining performance uniformity. The low-cost membranes developed during this SBIR Phase I project have the potential to reduce the cost of VRFBs by as much as 15%. Lower cost grid-scale storage means that more renewable energy generation (e.g., solar & wind) can be added without overwhelming the grid.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.