PFI-TT: Novel Lithium-Ion Batteries with Adaptive Designs for Improved Safety, Range and Payload Capacity

该创新技术转化伙伴关系（PFI-TT）项目的更广泛影响/商业潜力在于开发锂离子电池制造和设计流程，消除当前电池的形状限制。今天，锂离子电池仅限于规则的几何形状，如圆柱体、圆盘和长方体。围绕产品设计电池，而不是围绕电池设计产品，这是一种新颖的做法，将使人们能够重新想象未来的产品设计。产品设计师将不再需要考虑特殊形状的额外空间，电池也不会显示出功率密度降低（和寿命缩短）。这种三维（3D）打印电池的社会需求源于便携式移动应用，在医疗、运输和消费可穿戴产品等不同领域，重量、尺寸和/或空间受到严重限制。如果成功，该项目可能会影响使用电池和电子产品的消费/商业产品，其中部分或全部电子元件可能是3d打印的。目标市场包括消费者可穿戴设备、医疗设备和国防系统，包括可穿戴传感器、自由形态固态电池和能量收集设备。这种新型电池系统的智能价值源于聚合物科学家和3D打印制造专家之间的跨学科合作。该团队的目标是在可扩展技术中使用新颖的、专利的固体聚合物电解质化学物质，专注于自由形状的3D打印电池组件。作为第一个商业领域，电池在无人驾驶飞行器（UAV）中的应用将被研究。该项目将用于随后在定制的3D表面上逐层打印电解质膜阴极和阳极，并封装这些电极，为无人机/无人机制作完整的、可工作的结构电池/机身框架。该项目的目标和范围包括开发从开始到结束组装整个锂离子电池的方法，以及具有复杂形状的自由形状设计，最终可以扩展到高通量，大批量，定制形状的电池。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，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。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Partnerships for Innovation-Technology Translation (PFI-TT) project is in the development of lithium-ion battery manufacturing and design processes removing the shape limitations of current batteries. Today, lithium ion batteries are limited to regular geometrical shapes like cylinders, discs and cuboids. Designing a battery-around-a-product rather than a product-around-a-battery is novel and will enable the reimagination of future designs of products. The product designer will no longer have to make allowances for additional space in particular shapes nor will the batteries demonstrate decreased power density (and shorter life). The societal need for such 3-dimentional (3D) printed batteries stems from portable mobile applications where there are severe limitations for weight, size and/or space in diverse areas such as medical, transportation, and consumer wearable products. If successful, the project may impact consumer/business products that use batteries and electronics, where some or all of the electrical components could be 3D-printed. The target markets include consumer wearables, medical devices, and defense systems including wearable sensors, free-form solid-state batteries, and energy harvesting devices.The intellectual merit of this novel battery system stems from an interdisciplinary collaboration between polymer scientists and manufacturing experts in 3D printing. The team aims to use novel, patented, solid polymer electrolyte chemistries in scalable technologies focued on freeform 3D printed battery components. As a first commercial segment of interest, battery in Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) applications will be examined. This project will be used to subsequently print layer-by-layer the electrolyte membrane cathodes and anodes over custom 3D surfaces and encapsulate these electrodes to make complete, working, structural battery/body frameworks for UAVs/drones. The goal and scope of the project encompass developing methods of assembling the entire lithium ion battery from start to finish to the freeform design with complex shapes that can eventually be scaled to high-throughput, high-volume, custom-shaped 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.