SBIR Phase I: Development of Renewable Nanoparticle Platform for Green Energy Production and Storage Applications

这个小型企业创新研究(SBIR)项目的更广泛影响/商业潜力是使用由可再生生物基材料制成的自组装纳米颗粒系统，以取代传统上依赖高能反应条件和石油基化学品的制造工艺。这一创新将加强对化学配方、纳米颗粒形态和产品性能之间的性能-性能关系的技术理解。该项目将使美国制造商能够减少有毒废物的生产和处置，并在制造过程中利用当地生产的碳强度较低的原料和投入，还将为美国生产的原料和材料创造新的市场。这个SBIR第一阶段项目建议优化绿色纳米颗粒形成溶剂系统，该系统自组装成“微反应器”容器，可以生产用于充电电池系统的正极材料，以满足不断增长的能源储存市场。基于溶液的合成方法已被用于制备不同的正极材料，但对产品结构和质量的控制需要对溶液化学有详细的了解，这可能会被电极形成过程中引入的下游变量所掩盖。这一筛选过程将通过表征和量化中间产物的性质来简化，以确定电池性能的最佳化学配方、颗粒大小和焙烧条件。该方法将使用只需要微量材料的快速表征方法，以开发一个灵敏度矩阵，该矩阵将可再生成分输入和反应变量对正极材料尺寸和形态的影响联系起来，从而能够预测整体电池性能。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势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 to use self-assembling nanoparticle systems made from renewable, bio-based materials to replace manufacturing processes that conventionally rely on high-energy reaction conditions and petroleum-based chemicals. This innovation will enhance technical understanding of the property-performance relationship between chemistry formulations, nanoparticle morphology, and product performance. This project will enable US manufacturers to reduce their production and disposal of toxic waste and utilize locally produced feedstocks and inputs in manufacturing process that are lower in carbon intensity, and will also create new markets for US produced feedstocks and materials. This SBIR Phase I project proposes to optimize a green nanoparticle-forming solvent system that self-assamble to function as "microreactor" vessels that can produce cathode materials which are used in rechargeable battery systems for the growing energy storage market. Solution-based synthesis methods have been used to prepare different cathode materials, but control over product structure and quality requires detailed understanding of the solution chemistry, which can be obscured by downstream variables that are introduced during electrode formation. This screening process will be streamlined by characterizing and quantifying the properties of intermediates produced in order to determine optimal chemistry formulation, particle size, and calcination conditions for battery performance. The approach will use rapid characterization methods that require only microscale quantities of material in order to develop a sensitivity matrix that relates the impact of renewable composition inputs and reaction variables on cathode material size and morphology, allowing prediction of overall battery performance.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.