SBIR Phase II: Enabling Better Grid-Scale Energy Storage with Organic Additives

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The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project will be to provide a more economical, scalable, and sustainable type of battery for storing the energy needed to support America’s growing renewable power grid. As more wind and solar power generation is being installed, there is a growing need for economical forms of energy storage to supply power during windless and sunless times. Older technologies like lithium ion and lead acid batteries are not ideal for this purpose due to problems with supply, safety, longevity, and sustainability. This project seeks to produce new chemical components to enable grid-scale batteries based on recyclable zinc metal, which offers a safer and more sustainable alternative grid-scale battery option. Furthermore, since zinc and its other battery components are sourced in the US, this project may help facilitate domestic battery manufacturing and reduce dependence on foreign battery supplies.This SBIR Phase II project proposes to produce chemical additives that make zinc-bromine batteries last longer, hold more energy, and run more efficiently so that they can provide sustainable low-cost energy storage for renewable power. Presently, the major problems with these types of batteries are related to unwanted electrochemical side reactions that happen during battery charging. This project will eliminate these side reactions with stable, scalable, organic electrolyte additives designed to prevent problems at the zinc surface. During this phase of the project, these electrolyte addititives will be modified and optimized for performance and scalability. They will be evaluated via testing in actual cells and full-size batteries by the battery manufacturers. By the end of the project, new class of enabling electrolyte may be available in large quantities to help establish safe, sustainable, domestically made zinc-bromine batteries.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.