GOALI: Electrochemical Sodiation of Selenium

非技术描述：该项目将使高能金属钠电池(NMB)更接近商业化，有可能改变包括汽车和固定存储在内的整个二次电池领域，加快从二氧化碳排放燃料的过渡。如果锂离子电池(LIB)在汽车和固定能源存储应用中取代化石燃料，该项目的成果将有助于缓解迫在眉睫的重大危机。碳酸锂前体的开采供应有限，因此LIBS在电动汽车和电网中的大规模部署可能会导致严重的锂短缺。类似于过去众所周知的“石油冲击”，先兆短缺可能导致一系列锂价格冲击，威胁到整个电动汽车运动的脱轨。与锂不同，钠既容易找到，又便宜，陆地上有大量的前体供应，通过海水淡化也可以从盐水中获得。重要的是，这一目标研究项目将带来新的工程和科学知识，这对Graphenix Development Inc.的S努力追求他们的“下一代”电池发展战略至关重要。这些努力将帮助总部位于美国的公司(总部设在纽约州布法罗，制造业设在纽约州罗切斯特)成为全球绿色能源储存的领先者。通过该项目资助的研究生应该在美国一些新兴的可再生能源行业找到研究生工作，例如电动汽车。这项研究为美国退伍军人和当地高中生提供了从事学术和工业学习活动的机会。此外，该项目还涉及与布鲁克海文国家实验室(BNL)和桑迪亚国家实验室(SNL)的工作人员直接互动。技术细节：这项实验与建模相结合的工作解决了储能材料中结构与性能关系的核心问题。该项目将阐明在“超越锂”的系统中，例如在硒-碳纳米复合电池正极中，钠如何在各种荷电状态下储存和运输的基本问题。许多现有的“锂遗传”范例将被废除，导致对电化学反应的变革性的新理解。这项研究为扩大对储能材料中可能存在的一系列复杂固态现象的理解提供了机会。这项工作将电分析和结构表征方法与原子水平模拟相结合。采用了先进的技术，包括现场特定的透射电子显微镜(TEM)和电极在不同电压、循环次数和退化状态下的表面光谱。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。

NON-TECHNICAL DESCRIPTION: This project will bring high-energy sodium metal batteries (NMBs) much closer to commercialization, potentially transforming the entire secondary battery field including automotive and stationary storage, accelerating the transition away from CO2 emitting fuels. The project's outcomes will help to mitigate a major crisis that is imminent if lithium ion batteries (LIBs) displace the fossil fuels in automotive and stationary energy storage applications. Mined supplies of the lithium carbonate precursor are limited in availability, so large-scale deployment of LIBs in electric vehicles and electric grids may lead to major lithium shortages. Akin to the well-known "Oil Shocks" of the past, a precursor shortage could lead to a series of lithium price shocks, threatening to derail the entire electric vehicle movement. Unlike lithium, sodium is both easy to find and is inexpensive, with wide supplies of precursors available on land and from salt water through desalination. Importantly, this GOALI research project will result in new engineering and scientific knowledge essential to Graphenix Development Inc.'s efforts to pursue their "next-generation" battery development strategy. Such effort will help U.S.-based company (headquarters in Buffalo NY, manufacturing in Rochester NY) towards becoming a global green energy storage leader. The graduate students supported through this project should find post-graduate work in a number of emerging U.S. renewable energy industries, such as in electric vehicles. This research is providing opportunities for U.S. Military Veterans and local high-school students to engage in both academic and industrial learning activities. Also, this project involves direct interactions with staff at Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) and at Sandia National Laboratory (SNL). TECHNICAL DETAILS: This combined experimental-modeling effort addresses the core of the structure-properties relationships in energy storing materials. The project will elucidate the fundamental questions regarding how sodium is stored and transported at various states of charge in "beyond lithium" systems, such as in selenium - carbon nanocomposite battery cathodes. Many of the existing "lithium-inherited" paradigms will be done away with, leading to the transformative, new understanding of sodiation electrochemical reactions. This study provides an opportunity to broaden understanding of the rich array of possible complex solid-state phenomena in energy storage materials. The effort combines electroanalytical and structural characterization methods with atomic level simulation. Advanced techniques are being employed, including site-specific transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and surface spectroscopy of the electrodes at various voltages, cycle numbers, and states of degradation.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.