Collaborative Research: Designing Soluble Inorganic Nanomaterials for Flowable Energy Storage

太阳能和风能等可再生能源技术的广泛采用，关键取决于在可充电电池中储存大量电力的能力。该项目的目的是为氧化还原液流电池等液相储能系统设计新一代高性能材料，特别适合大规模存储电能。我们将进行实验，以了解可溶的、富含土壤的纳米材料的分子特性如何影响其在液相电池系统中的实际性能。只有通过培训具有全球竞争力的STEM劳动力，准备好创新和部署新技术，可持续能源系统的持续发展才有可能实现。为了实现这一目标，该项目整合了几项以培养有竞争力的本科生和研究生为中心的活动。除了研究活动外，该项目还包括一项新的教育工作，旨在培训本科生综合、测试和批判性地评估液相电池材料。该项目包括为教学实验室创建资源，包括新的课程材料和低成本实验硬件的设计，旨在向大西洋中部地区三所不同机构的学生教授电化学储能的核心概念。该合作项目的总体目标是为液相流动电化学储能（EES）的可溶性无机纳米材料的设计建立一个框架。这一目标将通过假设驱动的研究，针对两个家族的纳米级金属氧化物组件：多金属酸氧簇和可溶解的金属氧化物纳米颗粒。这些载流子都具有高度的可调性，通过其金属氧化物核和增溶配体的组成修饰。该项目将探索控制这些分子特性的总体假设，这将使设计出具有快速电子转移动力学、高溶解度和在大范围电化学电位下长期稳定性的可溶性无机纳米材料成为可能。计划开展一系列研究，重点是钒钛纳米材料的靶向合成改性；这些材料将使用独特的多模态分析方法进行详细表征，该方法可以同时测量其基本氧化还原化学和设备级的优点。该研究将通过合理设计可溶、氧化还原活性的无机纳米材料，为EES的发展做出贡献。这项工作的成功完成将最终验证一种基于过渡金属氧化物结构的新型无机载流子，用于液流电池和相关的EES技术。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。

The widespread adoption of renewable energy technologies like solar and wind power depends critically on the ability to store massive quantities of electricity in rechargeable batteries. The purpose of this project is to design a new generation of high performing materials for liquid-phase energy storage systems like redox flow batteries, which are especially suitable for storing electricity on a large scale. Experiments will be undertaken to learn how the molecular properties of soluble, earth-abundant nanomaterials influence their practical performance in liquid-phase battery systems. The continued progress toward a sustainable energy system will only be possible through training of a globally competitive STEM workforce prepared to innovate and deploy new technologies. In pursuit of this goal, the project integrates several activities centered on the training of competitive undergraduate and graduate students. Alongside the research activities, this program includes a new educational effort directed at training undergraduate students to synthesize, test, and critically evaluate liquid-phase battery materials. The project includes the creation of resources for teaching laboratories—encompassing new curricular materials and designs for low-cost experimental hardware—aimed at teaching the core concepts of electrochemical energy storage to students at three different institutions across the mid-Atlantic region.The overarching objective of this collaborative project is to build a framework for the design of soluble inorganic nanomaterials for liquid-phase, flowable electrochemical energy storage (EES). This objective will be addressed through hypothesis-driven studies targeting two families of nanoscale metal oxide assemblies: polyoxometalate clusters and solubilized metal oxide nanoparticles. These charge carriers each feature a high degree of tunability via compositional modifications of their metal oxide cores and solubilizing ligands. This project will probe the overarching hypothesis that control over these molecular characteristics will enable the design of soluble inorganic nanomaterials that exhibit fast electron-transfer kinetics, high solubility, and long-term stability over a wide range of electrochemical potentials. A series of studies focused on targeted synthetic modifications of vanadium- and titanium-oxide nanomaterials is planned; these materials will be characterized in detail using a unique, multimodal analytical approach that affords simultaneous measurements of their fundamental redox chemistry and device-level figures of merit. The research will contribute to the advancement of EES by enabling the rational design of soluble, redox-active inorganic nanomaterials. Successful completion of this work will ultimately result in the validation of a new class of inorganic charge carriers based on transition metal oxide architectures for flow batteries and related EES technologies.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.