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，在很大程度上取决于在可充电电池中储存大量电力的能力。本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，特别适合大规模储电。将进行实验，以了解可溶的、富含地球的纳米材料的分子性质如何影响其在液态电池系统中的实际性能。只有通过培训一支具有全球竞争力、准备创新和部署新技术的STEM员工队伍，才能在可持续能源系统方面取得持续进展。为了追求这一目标，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，该计划还包括一项新的教育努力，旨在培训本科生合成、测试和批判性地评估液态电池材料。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个不同机构的学生讲授电化学储能的核心概念。这一合作项目的总体目标是建立一个框架，设计用于液态、可流动的电化学储能(EES)的可溶性无机纳米材料。这一目标将通过针对两类纳米金属氧化物组件的假设驱动研究来实现：多金属氧酸盐簇合物和可溶解的金属氧化物纳米粒子。这些电荷载体都具有高度的可调性，通过对其金属氧化物核心和增溶配体的组成进行修饰。这个项目将探索一个重要的假设，即对这些分子特性的控制将使可溶无机纳米材料的设计能够在广泛的电化学势范围内表现出快速的电子转移动力学、高的溶解度和长期的稳定性。计划进行一系列研究，重点是对钒和钛氧化物纳米材料进行有针对性的合成修饰；将使用一种独特的多峰分析方法对这些材料进行详细表征，该方法可同时测量其基本氧化还原化学和设备级别的优值系数。这项研究将有助于通过合理设计可溶的、氧化还原活性的无机纳米材料来促进EES的发展。这项工作的成功完成将最终导致基于液流电池和相关EES技术的过渡金属氧化物架构的新型无机电荷载体的验证。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 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.