RII Track-4 NSF: Novel Structure and Properties of Hybrid Electrolytes for Lithium Metal Batteries

人们对高性能、高安全性的锂离子电池提出了很高的要求，以支持可穿戴电子产品、电动汽车等的快速发展。近年来，锂金属电池等电池单元中的混合电解液被研究出来，以满足这一要求。然而，现有的工作仍然受制于机械强度和离子导电性之间的权衡，以及对这些性质如何影响组装电池性能的基本理解。NSF EPSCoR RII Track-4：NSF奖学金项目将提供与加州理工学院(Caltech)的研究人员合作的机会，通过整合实验和模拟工作来执行混合电解质的基础研究。这项长期合作预计将以可持续的方式改善能源储存、高性能计算以及科学、技术、工程和数学(STEM)领域的研究能力。该项目还将鼓励代表人数不足的少数族裔在校园内开展与科学和工程相关的项目。EPSCoR RII Track-4：NSF奖学金项目的主要目标是通过定量阐明混合电解液的工艺-结构-性能相关性，对新型杂化电解液的性能与锂金属电池电化学性能之间的耦合机理有一个新的理解。通过与加州理工大学的研究人员合作，将基于密度泛函理论的第一性原理计算和实验研究相结合，从根本上研究混合电解质中各组分的相互作用以及与锂盐的相互作用，以了解它们对混合电解质性能的影响。在模拟研究的推动下，先进的制造技术将被开发出来，以制备具有非各向同性和定制纳米结构的独特的杂化电解质。它具有打破混合固体电解质中高机械性能和高离子导电性之间的权衡的巨大潜力。这反过来将为储能社区提供有效的策略，以设计和制造具有所需性能的混合电解液，以实现安全和高性能的锂金属电池。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。

High-performance and high-safety lithium-ion batteries are highly demanded to enable the fast development of wearable electronics, electric vehicles, etc. The hybrid electrolytes in battery cells such as lithium metal batteries have been studied recently to have the potential to meet the requirements. However, the extant works still suffer from the trade-off between mechanical strength and ionic conductivity, as well as the fundamental understanding of how those properties influence the performance of the assembled cells. This NSF EPSCoR RII Track-4:NSF fellowship project will provide an opportunity to collaborate with researchers at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) to perform fundamental studies on hybrid electrolytes by integrating experimental and simulative efforts. The long-term collaboration is expected to improve the infrastructure in a sustainable way on the research capacity in the energy storage, high-performance computing, and education in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) field. This project will also encourage underrepresented minorities to pursue science and engineering-related projects based on several programs on campus. The primary goal of this EPSCoR RII Track-4:NSF fellowship project is to develop a new understanding of the coupling mechanism between the properties of the novel hybrid electrolytes and the electrochemical performance of the Li metal battery by elucidating the process-structure-performance correlation of the hybrid electrolytes quantitatively. By partnering with researchers at Caltech, density functional theory-based first-principles calculations and experimental studies will be integrated to fundamentally investigate the interaction of the components in the hybrid electrolytes as well as the interaction with the lithium salts to understand their effects on the performance of the hybrid electrolytes. Driven by the simulative studies, advanced manufacturing techniques will be developed to fabricate unique hybrid electrolytes with the nonisotropic and tailored nanostructure. It holds the great potential to break the trade-off between high mechanical properties and high ionic conductivity in hybrid solid electrolytes. That, in turn, will provide effective strategies for the energy storage community to design and fabricate hybrid electrolytes with desired properties for safe and high-performance Li metal batteries.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.