International Research Fellowship Program: Molten Salts and Ionic Plastic Crystalline Materials as Electrolytes for High Energy Lithium Batteries

亨德森国际研究奖学金计划使美国科学家和工程师能够在国外进行三到二十四个月的研究。该计划的奖项提供了联合研究的机会，并利用国外独特或互补的设施、专业知识和实验条件。该奖项将支持Wesley A.Henderson博士与意大利新技术、能源和环境机构(ENEA)的Stefano Passerini博士在意大利罗马合作的为期24个月的研究奖学金。该项目基于锂/空气电池替代电解液(熔盐和离子塑料晶体材料)的研究和开发。这种材料的开发可以为广泛的应用(例如电动汽车、发电设备和电子产品)提供电池技术的关键突破。锂/空气电池的比能量可能比目前使用的锌/空气电池高出一个数量级，但这些电池存在锂金属与水腐蚀等问题。这些问题阻碍了它们在传统的、高度疏水的电解液(如聚氧乙烷/锂盐)中的商业应用。本项目将研究的疏水熔盐是解决这一问题的潜在解决方案。ENEA的高级电化学能源部负责电动汽车用锂充电电池和聚合物电解液燃料电池的项目。

0202620HendersonThe International Research Fellowship Program enables U.S. scientists and engineers to conduct three to twenty-four months of research abroad. The program's awards provide opportunities for joint research, and the use of unique or complementary facilities, expertise and experimental conditions abroad.This award will support a twenty-four month research fellowship by Dr. Wesley A. Henderson to work with Dr. Stefano Passerini at the Italian Agency for New Technologies, Energy and the Environment (ENEA) in Rome, Italy.This project is based on the study and development of alternative electrolytes (molten salts and ionic plastic crystalline materials) for lithium/air batteries. The development of such materials could provide critical breakthroughs in battery technology for a wide array of applications (e.g., electrically powered automobiles, power generation equipment, and electronics.). The lithium/air batteries potentially have an order of magnitude higher specific energy than zinc/air batteries, which are used currently, but these suffer from problems such as corrosion of lithium metal with water. These problems have inhibited their commercial use with conventional, highly hydrophobic electrolytes such as poly(ethylene oxide)/lithium salts. The hybrophobic molten salts to be studied in this project represent a potential solution to this problem.ENEA's Advanced Electrochemical Energy Division conducts projects on both lithium rechargeable batteries and polymer electrolyte fuel cells for electric vehicles.