New solid state electrolytes for fuel cell and Li ion battery applications

燃料电池和蓄电池是以非常高的效率将化学能转化为电能的电化学电池。这些技术处于新电源的最前沿，因为它们不仅提供广泛的应用，而且是“绿色”电源。电池可以为从心脏起搏器到消费电子产品的各种设备供电，并且是完全独立的，是真正的“零”温室气体排放设备。 燃料电池的优点是非常有效地将天然气和氢气等燃料直接转化为电力，并为从便携式电子产品到固定发电厂的任何东西提供动力。然而，我们仍然缺乏对这两种技术的全面了解，在基于这两种技术中的任何一种创建大型分布式能源网络的可能性可行之前，需要进一步研究。燃料电池技术，包括固体氧化物和质子交换膜燃料电池，仍然过于昂贵，无法被广泛接受和大规模生产。在我们的工作中，我们将为这两种技术开发材料，并更好地了解它们的功能特性。该研究的目标是通过深入了解其离子传导机制和电化学稳定性，开发基于类钙钛矿金属氧化物、有机插层层状钙钛矿型固体酸以及磷酸锂和金属氧化物的复合物的高导电固态质子导体。生产高导电性和稳定的固态电解质是长期稳定的质子传导燃料电池和高能量密度全固态锂离子电池成功商业化的关键一步。我的研究计划将培养大量的研究生，本科生和博士后学生，让他们所有人在固态材料研究及其应用于新能源相关创新的“实践”经验。

Fuel cells and batteries are electrochemical cells that convert chemical energy into electrical energy with very high efficiency. These technologies are at the forefront of new power sources because they not only offer a broad range of applications, but also are 'green' power sources. Batteries can provide power to devices ranging from pacemakers to consumer electronics and are completely self contained, a true 'zero' greenhouse gas emission device. Fuel cells offer the advantages of being extremely efficient at converting fuels, such as natural and hydrogen, directly to electricity and power anything from portable electronics to stationary power plants. However, we still lack a complete understanding of both of these technologies and require further research before the possibility of creating a large distributive energy network based on either of these technologies is feasible. Fuel cell technology, including solid oxide and proton exchange membrane fuel cells, is still too expensive to be broadly accepted and mass-produced. In our work, we will develop materials for both of these technologies and develop a better understanding of their functional properties. The goals of the proposed research are to develop highly conductive solid state proton conductors based on perovskite-like metal oxides, organic intercalated layered perovskite-type solid acids and composites of Li phosphate and metal oxides through a deep understanding of their ionic conduction mechanism and electrochemical stability. Generating highly conductive and stable solid-state electrolytes is a key step towards the successful commercialization of both long-term stable proton conducting fuel cells and high energy density all-solid-state Li ion batteries. My research program will train a significant number of graduate, undergraduate and postdoctoral students, giving all of them "hands-on" experience in solid-state materials research and its application to new energy-related innovations.