STTR Phase I: Electrode Materials and Processes for Atmospheric Pressure, Continuous Manufacturing of Multi-Layer Capacitors

STTR第一期：常压电极材料和工艺，多层电容器的连续制造

• 批准号: 2151712
• 负责人: Kevin O'Connor
• 金额: $ 25.6万
• 依托单位: CAPORUS TECHNOLOGIES, LLC
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2022-04-01 至 2024-06-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2151712&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: STTR; Phase; Electrode; Materials; Processes

The broader impact of this Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Phase I project is to improve capacitor technology in power conversion equipment used to electrify our transportation systems. Capacitors are critical components to the systems needed to accelerate the energy transition from petroleum to other fuels. This project will develop new electrical materials and production processes for capacitors. The new electrical materials are formulated to be less hazardous to humans and the environmental while also being compatible with more efficient manufacturing processes. Benefits of the proposed technology include faster charging rates of electric vehicles and reduced sizes of on-board batteries, which lowers the cost and environmental impact of electric vehicle manufacturing. Reduced costs will allow a broader population access to electric vehicles. Through development of these new electrode materials and processes, manufacturing of capacitors in the United States will be available to serve the growing US electric vehicle industry.This goal of the proposed work is to develop electrode materials and roll-to-roll processes compatible with an integrated, continuous manufacturing process for multilayer capacitor products. By combining additive manufacturing process in a roll-to-roll system, sequential deposition, drying, and curing of alternating layers of dielectrics and electrodes will enable production of multilayer capacitors in a single system at atmospheric pressure. Electrode inks and printing processes used in flexible/hybrid electronics do not meet the specifications to replace vacuum-based evaporation or sputtering of thin electrode layers for capacitor applications. The primary approach will be based on adapting the layer coating and alignment techniques developed for dielectrics to conductive materials. These electrode materials will improve upon state-of-the-art conductive inks with poor interfaces between particles to produce dense layers with uniform thickness and low surface roughness. This project seeks to provide prototyping of multilayer capacitors produced in discrete processing steps for verification of electrical performance.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.

这个小企业技术转让（STTR）第一阶段项目的更广泛影响是改进用于增强我们运输系统的功率转换设备中的电容器技术。电容器是加速从石油到其他燃料的能源转换所需系统的关键部件。该项目将开发新型电气材料和电容器生产工艺。新的电气材料的配方对人类和环境的危害较小，同时也与更高效的制造工艺兼容。该技术的好处包括电动汽车充电速度更快，车载电池尺寸更小，从而降低了电动汽车制造的成本和对环境的影响。降低成本将使更广泛的人口获得电动汽车。通过开发这些新的电极材料和工艺，美国的电容器制造将可用于服务于不断增长的美国电动汽车行业。拟议工作的目标是开发与多层电容器产品的集成连续制造工艺兼容的电极材料和卷对卷工艺。通过在卷对卷系统中组合增材制造工艺，连续沉积、干燥和固化交替的叠层和电极层将使得能够在大气压下在单个系统中生产多层电容器。柔性/混合电子器件中使用的电极油墨和印刷工艺不符合替代用于电容器应用的薄电极层的基于真空的蒸发或溅射的规范。主要的方法将是基于适应层涂层和对准技术开发的导电材料的导电材料。这些电极材料将改进现有技术的导电油墨，其颗粒之间的界面差，以产生具有均匀厚度和低表面粗糙度的致密层。该项目旨在为在离散加工步骤中生产的多层电容器提供原型，以验证电气性能。该奖项反映了NSF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。