GOALI: Electrochemical Sodiation of Selenium

非技术描述：该项目将使高能钠金属电池（NMB）更接近商业化，可能改变整个二次电池领域，包括汽车和固定存储，加速从二氧化碳排放燃料的过渡。该项目的成果将有助于缓解一个重大危机，如果锂离子电池（LIB）取代汽车和固定储能应用中的化石燃料，这一危机迫在眉睫。碳酸锂前体的开采供应有限，因此在电动汽车和电网中大规模部署LIB可能会导致严重的锂短缺。与过去著名的“石油冲击”类似，锂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。与锂不同，钠既容易找到，又便宜，在陆地上和通过脱盐从盐水中可以获得广泛的前体供应。重要的是，这个GOALI研究项目将产生新的工程和科学知识必不可少的Graphenix开发公司。的努力，以追求其“下一代”电池的发展战略。这样的努力将有助于美国-公司总部位于纽约州布法罗，在纽约州罗切斯特制造），致力于成为全球绿色能源存储领导者。通过该项目支持的研究生应该在一些新兴的美国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参与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）工作人员的直接互动。技术规格：这种结合实验建模的努力解决了储能材料中结构-性能关系的核心问题。该项目将阐明有关钠如何在“超越锂”系统中以各种充电状态储存和运输的基本问题，例如硒-碳纳米复合材料电池阴极。许多现有的“锂继承”范式将被废除，导致对钠化电化学反应的变革性的新理解。这项研究提供了一个机会，以扩大理解的丰富阵列的可能复杂的固态现象的能量存储材料。这项工作将电分析和结构表征方法与原子级模拟相结合。先进的技术正在被采用，包括特定地点的透射电子显微镜（TEM）和表面光谱的电极在不同的电压，周期数，和状态的degradation.This奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并已被认为是值得的支持，通过评估使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准。

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.