Polymer/Inorganic-Solid Composites for Rechargeable Battery Electrolytes

该项目的目标是开发一种可充电电池的新策略，这种电池可以以与化石燃料具有竞争力的价格储存能量。该策略是开发一种廉价的薄、柔性、机械强度强的电解质膜，可在低成本下扩展到大面积，与金属碱金属接触时在100°C以上的温度下化学稳定。PI计划探索使用碱金属阳极的可充电电池的设计，以提高能量密度并降低电池制造和管理成本。这一发展的广泛影响将是为锂离子或钠离子电池的发展提供替代策略，这些电池可以为全电动公路车辆提供动力，或者以可承受的成本为太阳能或风能产生的电能提供电网存储。目前锂离子或钠离子电池的策略使用有机液体电解质，其最低未占据分子轨道（LUMO）能量比锂阳极的费米能量EF低1 eV，比钠阳极的费米能量EF低0.7 eV。在具有EF LUMO的碱金属阳极表面形成钝化固体电解质间相（SEI）层，导致树突在反复充放电循环中形成并穿过电解质生长到阴极；与有机液体电解质，由此产生的内部短路具有燃烧的后果。因此，现有的锂离子可充电电池是在放电状态下制造的，阳极不含碱金属。然而，在初始电荷上，如果阳极具有EF LUMO，则形成可渗透Li+或Na+的钝化SEI层；SEI层的Li+或Na+由阴极提供，阴极是Li或Na固溶范围有限的插入化合物。这些特点限制了现有电池的能量密度，这使得开发一种安全的电池变得困难，既可以为全电动公路车辆提供动力，也可以为太阳能或风能产生的电能提供电网存储。PI建议开发复合膜，其中固态成分嵌入具有Li0和/或Na0的LUMO EF的聚合物中。这些膜可以被设计成阻隔碱金属阳极枝晶的膜分离器或全固态电池的固体电解质。这种膜成本低，易于放大；它们可以很薄，柔韧，机械坚固。分离膜含有一种主基团氧化物，可以阻断树突；全固态电池的固态组件充当盐，将工作碱离子释放到聚合物组件，聚合物组件在干燥状态下传导离子。

1438007 - GoodenoughThe objective of this project is the development of a new strategy for a rechargeable battery that can store energy at a price that is competitive with fossil fuels. The strategy is to develop an inexpensive thin, flexible, mechanically strong electrolyte membrane scalable at low cost to large areas that is chemically stable to temperatures above 100°C on contact with a metallic alkali metal. The PI plans to explore the design of a rechargeable battery using an alkali-metal anode to enhance the energy density and lower the cost of battery manufacture and management. The broad impact of this development would be the enabling of alternative strategy for the development of Li-ion or Na-ion batteries that can power an all-electric highway vehicle or provide storage for the grid of electrical energy generated by solar or wind energy at an affordable cost.Present strategies for Li-ion or Na-ion batteries use an organic liquid electrolyte having a lowest-unoccupied-molecular-orbital (LUMO) energy about 1 eV below the Fermi energy EF of a Li anode, 0.7 eV below the EF of a Na anode. Formation of a passivating solidelectrolyte-interphase (SEI) layer on an alkali-metal anode surface having EF LUMO causes dendrites to form and grow across the electrolyte to the cathode on repeated charge/discharge cycles; with an organic liquid electrolyte, the resulting internal short-circuit has incendiary consequences. As a result, existing Li-ion rechargeable battery cells are fabricated in the discharged state with an anode free of an alkali metal. Nevertheless, on the initial charge, a passivating SEI layer permeable to Li+ or Na+ is formed if the anode has an EF LUMO; the Li+ or Na+ of the SEI layer is supplied by the cathode, which is an insertion compound of limited solid-solution range for Li or Na. These features limit the energy density of existing cells, which makes it difficult to develop a safe battery at an affordable cost for either powering an all-electric highway vehicle or providing storage for the grid of electrical energy generated by solar or wind energy. The PI proposes to develop composite membranes in which a solid-state component is embedded in a polymer having a LUMO EF of Li0 and/or Na0. These membranes may be designed to be either a membrane separator that blocks dendrites from an alkali-metal anode or a solid electrolyte of an all-solid-state battery. The membranes can be made at low cost with easy scale-up in size; they can be thin, flexible, and mechanically robust. The separator membranes contain a main-group oxide that blocks dendrites; the solid state component of the all-solid-state battery acts as a salt releasing the working alkali ion to the polymer component that conducts the ions in its dry state.