Dynamic alkali metal alloys for low cost, high performance energy storage

安全、低成本和可扩展的能源存储对绿色经济、环境和社会至关重要。锂离子电池是当今占主导地位的储能技术。电池驱动的可再生能源需要取得重大进展，才能在电网存储、长途运输、工业过程和恶劣环境中与化石燃料竞争。许多“超越锂离子”的电化学储能技术正在兴起，其中大多数依赖于碱金属合金。存在两个核心问题：1)碱金属的电化学反应性尚未完全了解。反应途径和产物随方法的不同而不同——从第一性原理计算得出的预测并不总是与用热或电化学方法生产的材料的实验测量结果一致（这两种方法也各不相同）。热力学和动力学障碍可以导致亚稳或无序相，这可能难以实验（或计算）再现。氧反应合金、水反应合金，有时还有氮反应合金的结构、化学和机械性能是难以测量的，这将反馈给改进的模型和改进的设备。该计划利用我独特的先进表征方法套件，学术合作，工业合作伙伴和国家研究委员会的支持，将电化学和热方法结合起来。申请的资金将使两名研究生加入我们的研究和技术人员团队，博士后研究员，合作社和高中生追求锂和钠金属反应性的基本见解和合金物理性能的可靠测量。研究生将使用我的变温电化学、结构和机械测试平台来量化、理解和克服动力学和热力学障碍，创造新的亚稳态材料，识别和解释条件依赖的反应途径，并测量物理性质。先进合金将用于开发新的实验方法和改进的储能装置。该计划结合了基础多学科培训，尖端仪器，以及明确的工业和社会影响路线，为毕业生准备推动我们迫切需要的清洁能源和材料革命。

Safe, low cost, and scalable energy storage is critical to the green economy, the environment, and society. Lithium-ion batteries are the dominant energy storage technology today. Major advancements are required for battery-enabled renewable energy to compete with fossil fuels for grid storage, in long distance transportation, industrial processes, and in harsh environments. Many 'beyond lithium-ion' electrochemical energy storage technologies are emerging, most of which depend on alkali-metal alloys. There are two core problems: 1) alkali-metal electrochemical reactivity is not fully understood. Reaction pathways and products vary with approach - predictions from first principles calculations do not always agree with experimental measurements of materials produced using thermal or electrochemical methods (which also differ from each other). Thermodynamic and kinetic barriers can lead to metastable or disordered phases which can be difficult to experimentally (or computationally) reproduce. 2) The structural, chemical, and mechanical properties of oxygen-, water-, and sometimes nitrogen-reactive alloys are difficult to measure, and feed back in to improved models and improved devices. This program leverages my unique suite of advanced characterization methods, academic collaborations, industrial partners, and support from the National Research Council to unite electrochemical and thermal methods. Requested funding will enable two graduate students to join our team of research and technical staff, postdoctoral fellows, co-op and high school students pursuing fundamental insight in to lithium and sodium-metal reactivity and robust measurements of alloy physical properties. Graduate students will use my variable-temperature electrochemical, structural, and mechanical test platform to quantify, understand, and overcome kinetic and thermodynamic barriers, create new metastable materials, identify and explain condition-dependent reaction pathways, and measure physical properties. Advanced alloys will be used to develop new experimental methods and improved energy storage devices. This program combines foundational multidisciplinary training, cutting-edge instrumentation, and clear routes to industrial and societal impact to prepare graduates to drive the clean energy and materials revolutions we so desperately need.