STTR Phase I: Novel Cathode Materials for Flexible Batteries

该项目更广泛的影响/商业潜力是引入新一代储能设备，这些设备具有机械强度，高度灵活性和高能量密度。提出的新型柔性阴极电极技术是将高性能柔性电池商业化的关键。如果成功，拟议的研究计划将为柔性储能设备制造高能量和高功率阴极提供关键知识。预期所提出的阴极电极材料可以将当前最先进的柔性电池的能量密度提高至少5倍。能量密度和功率密度的显著提高使得所提出的技术对柔性电池尚未广泛使用的新市场具有吸引力。此外，所提出的技术和概念可以用于制造用于广泛的不同应用的其他多功能材料。 该小型企业创新研究第一阶段项目旨在开发用于柔性电子产品的新型柔性阴极材料。柔性电极的机械强度是最关键的性能。获得机械强度高的电极的传统方法是在柔性碳基基底上存款活性材料，而所得电极的性能强烈地受活性材料/基底界面的影响，这通常难以制造和控制。 拟议研究的关键创新是核-壳纳米结构，其中薄碳层通过原位形成过程均匀地涂覆在阴极纳米纤维上。核-壳纳米结构设计使我们能够同时实现增强的机械强度、结构完整性和电子导电性。同时，采用高电压、高容量阴极纳米纤维作为芯将确保所得阴极电极的高功率和能量密度。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this project is the introduction of new generation energy storage devices that are mechanically strong, highly flexible, and high energy density. The proposed novel flexible cathode electrode technology holds the key to commercialize high performance flexible batteries. If successful, the proposed research program will generate critical knowledge for fabricating a high-energy and high-power cathode for flexible energy storage device. It is anticipated that the proposed cathode electrode materials may improve the energy density of current state-of-the-art flexible battery at least by a factor of 5. The significant enhancement in energy density and power density makes the proposed technology attractive to new markets where flexible batteries hav not been widely used. Additionally, the proposed technique and concept may be used for manufacturing other multifunctional materials for a wide range of different applications. This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project aims at the development of novel flexible cathode materials for flexible electronics. Mechanical strength of flexible electrodes is the most critical property. Traditional approach to achieve mechanically strong electrodes is to deposit active materials on a flexible carbon-based substrate, while the performance of resulting electrodes strongly are affected by the active material/substrate interface, which is often hard to fabricate and control. The key innovation of the proposed research is a core-shell nano-architecture, in which a thin carbon layer is uniformly coated on the cathode nanofibers through an in-situ formation process. The core-shell nano-architecture design allows us to achieve enhanced mechanical strength, structural integrity, and electronic conductivity simultaneously. In the meantime, the employment of high voltage, high capacity cathode nanofibers as the core will ensure the high power and energy densities of resulting cathode electrodes.