I-Corps: Hybrid Solid State Electrolytes

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The broader impact/commercial potentials of this I-Corps project is the advancement of safe, next generation lithium batteries that can power electric vehicles with driving ranges in excess of 300 miles, and store intermittent energy generated by wind and solar sources. Replacement of volatile, flammable liquid electrolytes now used in lithium ion batteries with safe solid electrolytes is the goal of many existing and future battery technologies. The development of such a solid electrolyte separator has broad applications in many economic sectors and to companies developing lithium ion, lithium metal, lithium sulfur (LiS) and lithium air batteries. The technology can be applicable to many lithium ion conducting ceramics, protecting them from contact with lithium metal and water, and enabling them to be bonded with polymer electrolytes, so that composites can be formed that are processible and compatible with existing manufacturing processes or technologies to make batteries.This I-Corps project addresses several critical problems that hinder the development of all solid state lithium batteries. It is a technology that merges the beneficial characteristics of both lithium ion conducting ceramics and organic polymer electrolytes. Lithium ion conducting ceramics can have high conductivity, wide electrochemical stability windows and moduli that in principle suppress the growth of dendrites, but are brittle and not easily incorporated into full cells. Polymer electrolytes have good processibility, can be easily incorporated into battery cells and have better compatibility with electrodes, but have low ionic conductivity. The technology merges these two materials using silica "glue" that adheres well to the ceramic and can be functionalized to be compatible with the polymer component. This has been demonstrated using the sandwich geometry of polymer/ceramic/polymer, showing that there is low interfacial resistance between the two components. When nanometer layers are applied to ceramic particles, composites with polymers or polymer gels can be formed with the desirable properties of both components.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.