Polymer Precursors for Interfaces, Binders and Adhesives for Ceramic Solid-State Battery Components

非技术描述：社会的电气化要求开发更安全、高能量密度的储存化学能的方法。一个明确的目标是开发全固态电池（asb），特别是那些依赖于陶瓷电解质的电池，因为它们提供了实现安全、高能量密度存储的最佳潜力，有可能消除当前世界范围内使用的最先进电池系统的许多缺点。因为陶瓷电解质通常在超过处理阳极和阴极材料所需的温度下烧结；asb的组装需要一种方法，该方法可以在组件之间形成定义良好的界面，并在不影响单个组件的情况下，在界面上有效传输离子的表面进行良好的匹配。精心设计的聚合物作为粘合剂已经被开发出来，提供所有必要的性能来服务于这一目的。更重要的是，当加热到远低于用于形成阴极、电解质和一些阳极材料的温度时，它们会形成玻璃或陶瓷界面，其功能如预期的那样。事实上，它们的性能有时超过使用高真空溅射方法产生的类似界面的数量级。这种行为的原因尚不清楚，但如果可以充分探索其行为背后的基础科学，则可以使用更低成本的处理方法实现卓越的asb，从而提供了非凡的潜力。这就是这里描述的项目的基础。在整个项目过程中，最多将有三名研究生和几名本科生参与研究；在选拔学生时，多样性是优先考虑的因素。与底特律和伊斯皮兰蒂当地学校的合作是一个持续的优先事项，以吸引服务不足的人口从事科学和工程职业。研究成果将通过传统的科学期刊、国际会议（特别是有学生发言的会议）、讲习班（酌情）和制作新的训练录象来传播。如果成功，预计正在开发的方法和方法可以(i)减少对稀缺元素的依赖，（ii）显著影响固态电池的组装方式，因为它有可能简化组装过程，同时提高能量密度，并大大提高电池的安全性，与目前商业上使用的最先进的电池相比。技术细节：聚合物衍生陶瓷（PDCs）是先进陶瓷的前身，是40多年前首次探索的领域。该小组最初针对结构陶瓷（例如用于陶瓷/陶瓷复合材料的SiC和YAG陶瓷纤维）开发了有关其设计，加工和性能优化表征的原则。最近，这些原理被应用于氧化物超导纤维的设计和工艺优化。该项目将这些原理扩展到开发、优化，特别是建立Li+、Na+和可能含有Mg2+的玻璃/陶瓷的结构-加工-性能关系。初步研究表明，含有Li， P， O， N， H和Li （LiPON前体）的聚合物可以配制并用作多种薄膜（50 um以下）陶瓷电解质，阴极和阳极组件的涂层和粘合剂；即LATSP， LLZO, LiA-lOx， LTO等。所得材料提供的Li+电导率比气相沉积的LiPON高103倍。该项目的重点是详细了解一组类lipon前体的逐步分子和相演变，以阐明分子到陶瓷转化的机制，从而实现意想不到的、特殊的离子传导行为。一个长期目标是利用这些研究的预期结果来提高LiAlOx电解质的效用，使生产高质量、薄的LATSP和/或LLZO薄膜所需的复杂加工不再是asb组装的必要部分，从而降低asb的成本。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，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。

NON-TECHNICAL DESCRIPTION: The electrification of society mandates the development of safer, high energy density methods of storing chemical energy. One clear objective is the development of all-solid state batteries (ASBs), especially those relying on ceramic electrolytes, as they offer the best potential to realize safe, high energy density storage potentially eliminating many of the short-comings of current state-of-the-art battery systems used world-wide. Because ceramic electrolytes are typically sintered at temperatures that exceed those needed to process anode and cathode materials; the assembly of ASBs requires an approach that leads to well-defined interfaces between components and good mating of surfaces coincident with effective ion transport across the interface without also compromising the individual components. Carefully designed polymers that act as adhesives have been developed that offer all of the requisite properties to serve this purpose. Of further importance, on heating to temperatures well below those used to form the cathode, electrolyte and some anode materials, they form glassy or ceramic interfaces that function as anticipated. Indeed, their performance exceeds similar interfaces produced using high vacuum sputtering methods sometimes by orders of magnitude. The reasons for this behavior are not known and yet offer exceptional potential to realize superior ASBs using lower cost processing methods providing that the basic science behind their behavior can be fully explored. This then is the basis for the project described here. Over the course of the project, up to three graduate students and several undergraduate students will be engaged in research; diversity is a priority in the selection of students. Engagement with local Detroit and Yspilanti schools is an ongoing priority to attract underserved populations to science and engineering careers. Research results will be disseminated via tradi-tional scientific journals, international meetings especially with presentations by students, via workshops (where appropriate) and through the creation of new training videos. If successful, it is anticipated that the approach and methods under development could (i) reduce reliance on scarce elements, and (ii) significantly impact how solid-state batteries are assembled given its potential to simplify the assembly process while also increasing energy densities and greatly improving battery safety compared with state-of-the-art batteries currently used commercially. TECHNICAL DETAILS: Polymer derived ceramics (PDCs), precursors to advanced ceramics, is an area first explored more than 40 years ago. The principles concerning their design, processing and characterization for properties optimization were developed by this group originally for structural ceramics, e.g. SiC and YAG ceramic fibers for ceramic/ceramic composites. More recently these principles were applied to designing and optimizing processing of oxide superconducting fibers. This project extends these principles to develop, optimize and especially establish structure-processing-properties relationships to Li+, Na+ and possibly Mg2+ containing glasses/ceramics. Initial studies show that polymers containing Li, P, O, N, H and Li (LiPON precursors) can be formulated and used as coatings and adhesives for multiple thin film (under 50 um) ceramic electrolyte, cathode and anode components; i.e. LATSP, LLZO, LiA-lOx, LTO, etc. The resulting materials provide Li+ conductivities up to 103x superior to gas phase deposited LiPON. This project focuses on developing a detailed understanding of the stepwise molecular and phase evolution of a set of LiPON-like precursors in an effort to clarify the mechanism(s) whereby the molecular to ceramic transformations enable the unexpected, exceptional ion conducting behavior. One long term goal is to use the anticipated outcomes of these studies to improve the utility of LiAlOx electrolytes to the point where the complex processing needed to produce high quality, thin LATSP and/or LLZO films is no longer a necessary part of the assembly of ASBs thereby resulting in lower cost ASBs.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.