I-Corps: Hybrid solid-liquid cathode to boost lithium primary battery energy

这个I-Corps项目更广泛的影响/商业潜力是开发高能量密度一次（不可充电）电池，以延长电池寿命并降低独立耐用电子产品的电池尺寸/重量。能量密度比锂（Li）离子高3倍的一次电池对于高能量、可靠性和便携性至关重要的应用至关重要，例如可植入/便携式医疗设备（例如，心脏起搏器），无人驾驶车辆，军事和空间设备，以及远程监控传感器。这些行业对高能量一次电池有着强烈的未满足的需求，因为它们允许更长的持续工作时间，并且可以安装到比可充电锂离子电池更小的设备中。尽管需求不断增长，但在过去的40年里，电池化学中几乎没有根本性的创新，当时所有目前已知的一次阴极都被广泛研究。所提出的技术利用了最近开发的高能阴极化学，可以将当前市场领先的系统（Li-CFx）的能量密度提高预计50%，具有良好的安全特性，并且成本几乎没有增加。拟议的电池系统的高能量密度可能会导致更少的电池被需要的整体（由于增加电池寿命），减轻环境影响的一次电池，因为它们的使用是不可避免的，在许多application.This I-Corps项目是基于一类新的高能量密度阴极电解液（阴极+电解质）的开发利用液体氟化反应物（LFR）。所提出的LFR电池表现出固有的高能量密度，并且是鲁棒的和高度可再现的。此外，LFR和固体CFx之间的相容性使得电池设计能够实现重大发展，其中LFR阴极电解质与固态阴极混合以使非活性电池组件（例如，电解质溶剂），并且电池材料更有效地用于储存能量。 结果显示，与目前市场领先的电池相比，能量密度提高了20%，并且通过电池结构优化，可能进一步提高50%。重要的是，阴极电解液是使用当前的生产方法注入电池中的，这与已建立的电池形状因子一致，并且对电池组件的修改很少，从而使电池制造商的转换成本最小化。此外，LFR的价格与商业固体阴极的价格相似，使得LFR电池在按比例放大后的预计成本与最先进的电池相当。考虑到LFR的高热稳定性和化学稳定性、低挥发性和低腐蚀性，拟议的LFR电池也有望具有良好的安全特性。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。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this I-Corps project is the development of a high energy density primary (non-rechargeable) battery to extend battery life and decrease battery size/weight for stand-alone long-lasting electronics. Primary batteries, with energy density 3x higher than lithium (Li)-ion, are critical for applications where high energy, reliability, and portability are essential, such as implantable/portable medical devices (e.g., pacemakers), unmanned vehicles, military and space devices, and remote monitoring sensors. These industries have strong unmet needs for high-energy primaries because they allow longer-duration operating time and can fit into smaller devices than rechargeable Li-ion. Despite the increasing demand, there have been few fundamental innovations in cell chemistries in the past 40 years, when all currently-known primary cathodes were extensively investigated. The proposed technology utilizes a recently developed high-energy cathode chemistry that may boost the energy density of the current market-leading system (Li-CFx) by a projected 50%, with good safety characteristics and little/no increase in cost. The high energy density of the proposed battery system may result in fewer batteries being needed overall (owing to increased battery life), mitigating environmental impacts of primary batteries given that their use is unavoidable in many applications.This I-Corps project is based on the development of a new class of energy-dense catholyte (cathode + electrolyte) utilizing liquid fluorinated reactants (LFRs). The proposed LFR cells exhibit intrinsically high energy densities and are robust and highly reproducible. Moreover, the compatibility between LFR and solid CFx enabled a significant evolution in cell design, where LFR catholytes are hybridized with solid-state cathodes to minimize the weight of inactive cell components (e.g., electrolyte solvents), and the battery materials are more efficiently used for storing energy. Results have shown a 20% boost in energy density over the current market-leading battery, and further improvement by 50% may be possible with cell structure optimization. Critically, the catholyte is injected into the cell using current production methodologies, which is consistent with established cell form factors and requires little modification to cell assembly, minimizing switching costs to battery manufacturers. Additionally, the price of the LFR is similar to that of the commercial solid cathodes, making the projected cost of the LFR cell after scaling up comparable to the state-of-the-art batteries. The proposed LFR cells also are expected to have good safety characteristics given the high thermal and chemical stability, low volatility, and low corrosivity of LFRs.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.