Enabling Extreme Fast-Charging of Lithium-ion Batteries with Covalently-Joined Electrode Architectures - Phase I

要减缓和消除气候变化的灾难性后果，减少我们的温室气体排放至关重要。自1999年以来，加拿大的运输业每年排放超过7亿吨二氧化碳。这占该国所有排放量的27%。零排放电池电动汽车(BEV)为解决这一问题提供了解决方案。然而，电池充电时间长(约一个半小时)是阻碍公众大规模采用BEV的最大障碍之一。滑铁卢大学的研究人员最近披露了一种新颖的化学加入策略，该策略可以大幅提高传统电池和下一代电池的快速充电能力。在这里，我们建议开发这种新的电极制造技术，使传统的锂离子电池能够在几分钟内充电，而不是几个小时。这一发现依赖于通过将电极的所有部分物理连接在一起，使锂离子电池电极更具导电性，从用于存储能量的活性材料到用于连接电池和外部电路的金属箔。这种电极制造技术旨在无缝集成到当今工业中存在的现有电池生产线中。向BEV的过渡不仅关系到加拿大，也关系到世界其他地区价值数万亿美元的运输业。美国、中国和欧盟所有国家都承诺在未来十年逐步淘汰使用化石燃料的车辆。因此，在加拿大发展快速充电电池技术使我们有机会提高该国作为技术创新极在世界舞台上的显赫地位和竞争力，并将有助于找到解决方案，以减少加拿大对石油的依赖。

To slow and eliminate the catastrophic consequences of climate change, reducing our emissions of greenhouse gases is vital. Since 1999, the transportation sector in Canada has been emitting in excess of 700 megatonnes of carbon dioxide every year. This represents 27% of all emissions in the country. Zero-emission, battery electric vehicles (BEVs) provide a solution to this problem. However, the long recharging times of batteries (about one hour and a half) is one of the biggest obstacles in the way of mass adoption of BEVs by the public. Researchers at the University of Waterloo have recently disclosed a novel, chemical joining strategy that drastically improves fast-charging capabilities of both traditional and next-generation batteries. Here, we propose to develop this new electrode fabrication technique to enable otherwise traditional lithium-ion batteries to charge in minutes instead of hours. This discovery relies on making Li-ion battery electrode more conductive by physically joining all parts of the electrodes together from the active material used to store the energy to the metal foils that are used to connect the battery to the outside circuit to be powered. This electrode-making technique is designed to be integrated seamlessly into existing battery production lines that are present in industry today. The transition to BEVs concerns not only Canada but the rest of the world in the multi-trillion-dollar transportation industry. Countries such as the United States, China and all countries of the European union having pledged to phase out their fleet of fossil fuel burning vehicles in the coming decade. Therefore, developing fast-charging battery technologies in Canada gives us a chance to advance the country's prominence and competitiveness on the world-stage as a pole of technological innovation and will help in finding solutions to reduce Canada's dependency on oil.