CAREER: Organic Structure and Interphase Engineering for Fast-Charging, High-Temperature and Sustainable Batteries

该奖项全部或部分由《2021年美国救援计划法案》（公法117-2）资助。快速充电、高温和可持续电池对于固定式储能、钻井行业和高温地区的储能设备的应用至关重要。本项目重点开发快速充电和高温条件下有机可充电钾电池的先进有机材料、电极和电解质。这组材料代表了一种“超越锂”的化学能量存储应用，用于与间歇性可再生能源（如太阳能或风能）集成的电网规模存储。这些材料，包括有机聚合物、有机电解质和钾盐，在国内很丰富，对环境的影响也很低。基础研究计划和补充教育活动包括相互关联的组成部分：1)有机电池和极端条件下的有机材料、电解质和相间结构设计原理；2)整合教育活动，包括初中生、高中生、本科生和研究生，重点是在科学和工程领域历史上代表性不足的群体。该项目的目标是开发有机可充电钾电池（rpb）作为锂离子电池的替代品，并寻求基本的理解：1)有机结构与rpb电化学性能之间的相关性；2)高导电性一维/二维碳材料（如碳纳米管和石墨烯）对有机电极离子/电子输运和结构完整性的影响；3)固体电解质的相间结构、组成及稳定性对电池循环寿命的影响。广泛的结构表征将研究有机电极材料在rpb中的反应机理，1D/2D碳材料与有机电极材料通过π-π相互作用和杂原子效应的相互作用，以及有机电极在rpb中的界面化学。本项目将提供有机材料、电极、界面的结构设计原理，实现快速充电、高温、可持续电池的合理结构设计和性能优化。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。

This award is funded in whole or in part under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (Public Law 117-2). Fast-charging, high-temperature and sustainable batteries are critical for the applications of energy storage devices in stationary energy storage, well drilling industry, and high temperature regions. This project focuses on developing advanced organic materials, electrodes, and electrolytes for organic rechargeable potassium batteries under fast-charging and high-temperature conditions. This set of materials represents a “beyond lithium” chemistry for energy storage applications for grid-scale storage integrated with intermittent renewable energy such as solar or wind. The materials, including the organic polymers, organic electrolytes, and potassium salts, are plentiful domestically and have a lower environmental footprint. The fundamental research program and complementary educational activities include interrelated components: 1) principles of organic material, electrolyte, and interphase structure design for organic batteries and extreme conditions; 2) integrated educational activities involving middle school, high school, undergraduate and graduate students with an emphasis on groups historically underrepresented in science and engineering. The objectives of this project are to develop organic rechargeable potassium batteries (RPBs) as alternatives to Li-ion batteries and to seek fundamental understanding of 1) the correlation between organic structure and electrochemical performance in RPBs; 2) the impact of highly conductive one-dimensional (1D)/two-dimensional (2D) carbon materials such as carbon nanotube and graphene to the ion/electron transport and structural integrity of organic electrodes; and 3) the impact of solid electrolyte interphase structure, composition and stability to the battery cycle life. Extensive structural characterizations will be performed to investigate reaction mechanisms of organic electrode materials in RPBs, the interplay between 1D/2D carbon materials and organic electrode materials by π-π interaction and heteroatom effect, as well as the interfacial chemistry of organic electrodes in RPBs. This project will afford structure design principles for organic materials, electrodes, and interphase to enable rational structure design and performance optimization of fast-charging, high-temperature, and sustainable 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.