Organic and Polymer Structure Engineering for Na-ion and Multivalent Metal Batteries

以可承受的成本进行储能已成为能源部门面临的挑战之一，对于从电动汽车到可再生电力的电网储能等广泛应用至关重要。锂和过渡金属（钴）资源的高成本和稀缺性已成为锂离子电池发展的瓶颈，用于这些更大容量的储能和运输推进应用。开发高效的无锂和无过渡金属的电池技术，并利用可负担的和可持续的资源，是先进储能的重要研究课题。该项目探索锂离子电池以外的电池系统，重点是钠离子电池和其他基于镁（Mg）和铝（Al）的潜在高能化学物质。该项目的一个关键促成因素是实现轻质、丰富、廉价、可持续和可回收的无金属有机/聚合物材料，作为Na/Mg/Al电池的有前途的阴极。将研究创新的结构设计和简便的制造方法，以实现高能量，快速充电和长寿命电池。研究活动将涉及研究生、本科生和高中生的培训，并将促进有天赋的少数民族学生进入能源科学行列。该项目的一个关键目标是整合高中，本科，硕士研究生和教育。和博士学生本项目的目的是从分子和器件水平上对钠离子电池和多价金属（镁/铝）电池的材料结构与电化学性能之间的关系进行基本的理解，并将为学生提供一个强有力的平台，培养他们在材料科学、化学和能源科学领域的计算和实践技能。该项目整合了多学科研究，教育和推广，以实现锂离子电池以外的可持续能源存储。新型有机材料和聚合物将被设计和合成，在一个分子单元中具有多功能反应中心，以提高电池的能量容量。将进行广泛的结构表征，包括原位X射线衍射，固态核磁共振光谱和对分布函数分析，以了解有机/聚合物材料的结构如何决定阳离子插入/提取机制和动力学。在这些研究中获得的知识将用于设计和制造新的有机/聚合物材料，以优化电池性能。这些新型结构将显著提高有机/聚合物材料在充电/放电循环期间的利用率、反应动力学和稳定性，从而提高整体能量密度、功率密度和循环寿命。有机/聚合物材料的研究还将包括超低温有机电池的研究，以扩展这些可持续能源存储设备在极寒地区（如南/北极和外太空）的应用。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。

Energy storage at an affordable cost has emerged as one of the challenging issues for the energy sector, being critical for a wide range of applications ranging from electric vehicles to grid storage of renewable electricity. The high cost and scarcity of lithium and transition metal (Cobalt) resources has become a bottleneck for the development of Li-ion batteries for these larger capacity applications of energy storage and transport propulsion. Developing efficient lithium-free and transition metal-free battery technology with affordable and sustainable resources is an important research topic for advanced energy storage. This project explores battery systems beyond Li-ion batteries with emphasis on sodium-ion batteries and other potential high energy chemistries based upon magnesium (Mg) and aluminum (Al). A key enabling factor of this project is the implementation of lightweight, abundant, inexpensive, sustainable, and recyclable metal-free organic/polymer materials as promising cathodes for Na/Mg/Al batteries. Innovative structure design and facile fabrication approaches will be studied to enable the high energy, fast charge, and long lifetime batteries. Research activities will involve the training of graduate students, undergraduate researchers, and high school students, and will promote gifted minority students into the energy science ranks. A key goal of this project is to integrate research and education of high school, undergraduate, M.S. and Ph.D. students. The combined research and educational activities will provide a strong platform to train students with computational and hands-on skills in material science, chemistry, and energy science fields.The objective of this project is to seek fundamental understanding of the material structure -electrochemical performance relationships in Na-ion and multivalent metal (Mg/Al) batteries at the molecular and device levels. This project integrates multidisciplinary research, education, and outreach for sustainable energy storage beyond Li-ion batteries. Novel organic materials and polymers will be designed and synthesized with multi-functional reaction centers in one molecular unit to enhance the battery energy capacity. Extensive structural characterizations including in situ X-ray diffractometry, solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, and pair distribution function analysis, will be performed to understand how the structure of organic/polymer materials determines the cation insertion/extraction mechanism and kinetics. The knowledge gained in these studies will be used to design and fabricate new organic/polymer materials to optimize the battery performance. These novel structures will significantly enhance the utilization, reaction kinetics, and stability of organic/polymer materials during charge/discharge cycles, thus improving overall energy density, power density, and cycle life. The investigation of organic/polymer materials will also include the investigation of ultralow temperature organic batteries to extend the applications of these sustainable energy storage devices in extremely cold areas such as South/North poles, and outer space.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.