PFI-TT: Development of Next Generation Sulfur-based Batteries for Enhanced Run Time and Reduced Weight

创新伙伴关系-技术转化（PFI-TT）项目的更广泛影响/商业潜力是帮助目前使用锂离子电池的所有市场部门，如航空航天和国防、交通、医疗、石油和天然气以及消费电子产品。锂离子电池是性能最高的商用电池技术，目前在235亿美元的电池市场中占37%的份额。然而，它目前已经达到了物理和化学允许的最大性能。对于电动汽车市场来说，这些性能限制将要求全电动轿车的电池组重达1200磅，价值1.5万美元，因此在suv、皮卡或重型军用或商用车辆上的广泛部署在商业和经济上都是不切实际的。设想中的电池技术使用一种不同的化学物质，可能提供比锂离子电池好四倍的存储能力，而且更轻，从而导致新的经济可行的电动汽车。通过与工业界和技术商业化的独特合作伙伴关系，该PFI-TT项目将实现对拟议技术的测试、评估和改进、生产规模扩大和电池原型。拟议中的项目侧重于使用商业上可行的碳酸盐电解质开发Li- s电池，这种液体负责在电极之间传输Li+离子。过去的锂- s研发工作使用的是低沸点（~42摄氏度）的醚电解质，这使得它们非常易燃，在商业上不可行。对硫相在改变反应机制中的作用的基础研究导致了硫阴极的发展，这种阴极成功地在碳酸盐电解质中发挥作用，就像那些在商业锂离子电池中使用了三十年的阴极一样，在材料水平上具有稳定的四倍高的容量，可循环1000次以上。该PFI-TT项目将开展开发活动，根据潜在合作伙伴在初步客户发现期间提供的成功指标，减少电池重量，增加硫负荷，目标是将“设备级”特定容量提高四倍。该技术还将消除当前设备中使用的粘合剂和集流器无源组件的自重（高达电极重量的25%），从而消除浆料处理，这是当前粉末基电极所需的必要处理步骤。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 Partnerships for Innovation - Technology Translation (PFI-TT) project is to help all market sectors where lithium ion (Li-ion) batteries are currently used, such as aerospace & defense, transportation, medical, oil & gas, and consumer electronics. Li-ion, the highest-performing commercially available battery technology, currently accounts for 37% of the $23.5 billion battery market. However, it has currently reached the maximum performance that physics and chemistry allow. For the electric vehicle market, these performance limits would require a 1200 lb, $15,000 battery pack in an all-electric sedan, and therefore broad deployment in SUVs, pickup trucks or heavy-duty military or commercial vehicles would be commercially and economically impractical. The envisioned battery technology uses a different chemistry that potentially offers four times better storage capability than Li-ion batteries and is much lighter, leading to new economically feasible electric cars. Through unique partnerships with industry and technology commercialization, this PFI-TT project will enable testing, evaluation & refinement of the proposed technology, production scale-up and a battery prototype.The proposed project focuses on development of Li-S batteries using a commercially-viable carbonate electrolyte, the liquid responsible for transporting Li+ ions between electrodes. The past R&D efforts for Li-S use ether electrolytes that have low boiling point (~42 degrees C) making them extremely flammable and commercially non-viable. Fundamental investigations on the role of the sulfur phase in altering the reaction mechanism have led to the development of sulfur cathodes that successfully function in carbonate electrolytes - like those used in commercial Li-ion batteries for three decades - with a stable four-fold higher capacity at the material level for 1000+ cycles. This PFI-TT project will undertake development activities to reduce battery weight and increase sulfur loading based on success metrics provided by potential partners during preliminary customer discovery, with the objective to achieve four-fold improvement in the "device-level" specific capacity. The proposed technology will also eliminate dead weight (up to 25% of electrode weight) of binders and current collectors' passive components used in current devices and consequently eliminate slurry processing, a necessary processing step needed for current powder-based electrodes.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.