Energy Storage Materials: Discovery and Electrochemistry

电化学储能从来没有像今天这样重要。开发满足全球能源需求的可行的、长期的解决方案仍然是科学界面临的最关键的挑战之一。在迅速增长的能源成本和对可持续性的担忧中，国际上对能源储存(及其合作伙伴能源转换)的关注迅速获得了势头。在我们NSERC发现基金的研究过程中，我们取得了一项突破性的发现，正在改变电化学家对能量存储的思考方式。我们在这一领域的初步工作发表在2009年的《自然材料》杂志上，并描述了在受限维度中进行能量存储的“第一次”。这一发现开启了锂硫电池领域，自那以来，锂硫电池领域呈指数级增长。此外，这一发现为锂(和钠)氧电池的发展指明了方向，并与钠离子电化学一起成为“超越锂离子电池”的新方法的基础。*在本提案中，我们的目标是通过纳米化学/技术和基础固态化学/离子学的组合来进一步开发这些新技术，这是实现阶段性变化所必需的。这项突破所基于的概念的扩展将通过系统修改来探索，以便将无质子Li-S化学带到更可持续的水介质中。在这里，我们计划获得对电化学的更深层次的理解，以及扩大我们方法的反应性和实用性的范围。此外，新型固态离子导体(SSIC)作为保护性无机-有机薄膜的基本发现也将被用于使用新定制的电催化剂进行水氧电化学研究。SSIC的努力将进一步成为全固态锂离子电池和钠离子电池尖端研究的平台，其中实现高离子导电性和控制接口是关键。我们的方法将把创新的材料化学发现与复杂的操作术结合起来，以探测工作中的电化学电池。新型Li和Na SSIC材料将使用我们重要的固态合成工具以及计算和物理化学研究来开发，以阐明控制离子迁移率的重要因素。这些离子导体将与将在项目过程中发现的新的正钠离子电极材料相连接。通过这种方式，我们希望从根本上发现新的、成本更低、环保的能源存储解决方案。这样的发展可能会直接影响基础科学，也会带来实践创新。

Electrochemical energy storage has never been more important than today. The development of viable, long-term solutions that will meet global energy needs remains one of the most critical challenges facing the scienti?c community. Amid burgeoning energy costs and sustainability concerns, international focus on energy storage (and its partner energy conversion) has rapidly gained momentum. During the course of our NSERC discovery grant research, we have made a breakthrough discovery that is changing the way electrochemists think about energy storage. Our initial work in this area was reported in Nature Materials, 2009 and described "a first" for energy storage in confined dimensions. This finding kick-started the field of lithium-sulfur batteries that has increased exponentially ever since. Moreover, this discovery helped point the way to developments in Li (and Na)-oxygen batteries, and along with Na-ion electrochemistry has become the foundation for new approaches to "beyond Li-ion batteries". ******In this proposal we target the further development of these new technologies with a combination of nanochemistry/technology and fundamental solid state chemistry/ionics, necessary to bring about step-changes. Extension of the concepts upon which the breakthrough is based will be explored with system modifications for taking aprotic Li-S chemistry to a more sustainable aqueous medium. Here we plan to both garner a deeper understanding of the electrochemistry as well as expand the range of reactivity and utility of our approach. This will be coupled with fundamental discovery of new solid state ion conductors (SSICs) to serve as protective inorganic-organic membranes which will also be utilized for studies of aqueous oxygen electrochemistry using newly tailored electrocatalysts. The efforts in SSICs will furthermore serve as the platform for a cutting-edge undertaking in all-solid state Li and Na-ion batteries, where achieving high ionic conduction and controlling interfaces are key. Our approach will weave innovative materials chemistry discovery with sophisticated operando techniques to probe working electrochemical cells. Novel Li and Na SSIC materials will be developed using our significant arsenal of solid state synthesis tools, along with computational and physico-chemical studies to elucidate the important factors that govern ion mobility. These ion conductors will be interfaced with new positive Na-ion electrode materials that will be discovered through the course of the project. In this fashion, we hope to uncover fundamentally new yet lower cost, environmentally friendly energy storage solutions. Such developments could impact directly on fundamental science and also lead to practical innovations.