SBIR Phase I: In Situ Mitigation of Dendrite Formation in Lithium Metal Batteries Using Software and Electronics

这个小型企业创新研究（SBIR）项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力是创建一个控制系统，使下一代高容量锂金属电池能够取代当前的锂离子电池技术。全球锂离子电池市场预计将从2016年的311.7亿美元增长到2022年底的677.0亿美元。然而，锂离子电池不能存储对该增长贡献最大的应用所需的足够能量（即，电动车辆），如当今最大的电池供电产品市场内的缓慢采用所证明的。 锂金属电池在几十年前就被构想出来，能够储存锂离子电池三倍的能量。 然而，其固有的化学不稳定性使其在重新充电时极其危险，从而阻止了其使用。 该项目是下一阶段的工作，旨在开发一种系统，在充电过程中监测和保持锂金属电池的稳定性，使消费者，企业和政府能够安全可靠地使用。 完整的解决方案将包括可获得许可的硬件和软件，可针对特定的电池供电应用进行定制，与消费电子产品、远程电动汽车、医疗设备和电网存储系统的电池或充电系统集成。 该SBIR第一阶段项目为电池修复的新范式的持续发展提供资金：从外到内保持电池电极健康。该系统使用软件和电子设备来控制电池电极上的表面问题，否则会导致正常使用期间容量和寿命的永久损失。 作为正在开发的整体解决方案的重要组成部分，SBIR项目解决的关键技术障碍集中在实时电极表面传感和映射能力以及抑制树突的控制策略，以及先进的表征方法，以监控和与其他组件共享电极健康信息，以确保整个储能系统的安全性，可靠性和耐用性。研发计划将包括开发电化学活性表面的实时映射，开发算法和反馈系统的控制软件，以及改进传感-映射-控制策略的机器学习。 最有前途的一套解决方案将在操作可视化测试单元中进行演示和验证，该测试单元允许观察锂金属电极上枝晶的形成和抑制。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) project is the creation of a control system that enables the next generation of high capacity lithium metal batteries to replace current lithium ion battery technology. The global lithium-ion battery market is expected to grow to $67.70 billion USD by end of 2022 from $31.17 billion USD in 2016. However, lithium ion batteries cannot store sufficient energy required by the applications contributing most to that growth (i.e., electric vehicles) as demonstrated by the slow adoption within the largest battery powered product markets today. Lithium metal batteries were conceived decades ago and are capable of storing three times the energy of lithium ion batteries. Yet inherent chemical instability renders them extremely dangerous to recharge, preventing their use. This project is the next phase of work to develop a system that monitors and maintains the stability of lithium metal batteries during charging, enabling safe and reliable use by consumers, businesses, and government. The complete solution will consist of licensable hardware and software which can be tailored to specific battery powered applications, integrating with battery cells or charging systems for consumer electronics, long range electric vehicles, medical devices, and grid storage systems. This SBIR Phase I project funds the continued development of a new paradigm in battery healing: maintaining battery electrode health from the outside in. The system uses software and electronics that control surface issues on battery electrodes which otherwise cause permanent loss of capacity and life during normal use. As an important part of the overall solution being developed, the key technical hurdles addressed by this proposed SBIR project are focused on real-time electrode surface sensing and mapping capabilities and control strategies to suppress dendrites, as well as advanced characterization methods to monitor and share electrode health information with other components to ensure safety, reliability and durability of the overall energy storage system. The R&D plan will include development of live mapping of electrochemically active surfaces, control software to develop an algorithm and feedback system, and machine learning to improve sensing-mapping-control strategies. The most promising set of solutions will be demonstrated and validated in an operando visualization test cell that allows observation of the formation and suppression of dendrites on lithium metal electrodes.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.