SBIR Phase II: Domestically produced, novel carbon-based active anode materials for rechargeable lithium ion batteries

这个小企业创新研究（SBIR）项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力是为美国电池供应链提供新颖的、国内生产的原材料，并为电子产品生产价格合理、更安全、快速充电、持久的锂离子电池（lib）。有了这些原材料，美国可以利用自己的资源制造锂离子电池（lib）；美国电池制造商不再需要依赖外国供应商。制造过程将利用现成的美国制造能力来生产国内生产的增值材料，从而加强美国的高科技经济，而美国经济迫切需要新材料来实现更有效的能源储存。此外，拟议的材料将提高电池的性能和安全性，例如在无线、电池供电的医疗设备（如植入物和传感器）中，使用手机应用程序来监测人们的健康和福利。这些应用程序需要改进的锂电池，由新颖，更轻，更安全的阳极材料制成，可以比现有版本更快地充电并存储更多的能量。SBIR二期项目拟将一种高附加值、高品质的活性负极材料引入电池供应链。阳极材料旨在减少成功电池设计所需的昂贵但关键的阴极材料（Ni， Co等）的数量。资金将用于升级生产方法，以大规模生产阳极材料，从而展示如何生产锂化版本的阳极材料，这将增加其对电池制造商的吸引力。主要的研发活动将通过合成和放大的工程优化方法来改善这两个关键的理想性能价值主张，并通过引入预锂化和全锂化方法来改善目前第一次充电周期较低的初始库仑效率。研究成果包括：(1)一种增值的活性负极材料——具有比石墨更高的容量，介于钛酸锂和石墨之间的中间电位，低不可逆锂容量损失，并有可能增加锂的可用性——以减少每千瓦时整个电池系统的尺寸和成本；(2)具有卓越性能的最小可行产品200mAh电池的第三方演示；(3)电池制造商有效地加入新添加剂量的路线图。现有电池设计中的锂化材料（甚至可以完全取代石墨）。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 broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) project is both to provide novel, domestically produced raw materials to the US battery supply chain and to generate affordable, safer, fast-charging, long-lasting lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) for electronics. With these raw materials, the US can manufacture lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) using its own resources; US battery manufacturers need no longer depend on foreign suppliers. The manufacturing process will employ readily available US manufacturing capabilities to generate domestically produced, value-added materials and thus strengthen the high-tech US economy that critically needs new materials for more effective energy storage. Further, the proposed materials will improve battery performance and safety, such as in wireless, battery-powered medical devices (e.g., implants and sensors) that use phone apps to monitor people's health and welfare. These apps need improved LIBs made from novel, lighter, and safer anode materials that can charge faster and store more energy than current versions. This SBIR Phase II project proposes to introduce a value-added active anode material with high-quality performance to the battery supply chain. The anode material aims to reduce the quantity of expensive—but critical—cathode materials (Ni, Co, and others) required for successful battery designs. Funding will enable upgraded production methods to produce anode material at scale, thus demonstrating how to produce a lithiated version of the anode material which will increase its desirability for battery manufacturers. The main R&D activities will improve both key desirable performance value propositions through engineering optimization approaches to synthesis and scaleup, and improve upon the currently low initial coulombic efficiency for the first charging cycle through introducing pre-lithiation and full-lithiation methodologies. Research outcomes include: (1) a value-added active anode material—with higher capacity than graphite mid potential between lithium titanate and graphite, low irreversible lithium capacity loss, and potentially increased lithium availability—to reduce the size and cost of the overall battery system per kWh, (2) a third-party demonstration of minimum viable product 200mAh batteries with superior performance, and (3) a roadmap for battery manufacturers to effectively incorporate additive amounts of the novel, lithiated material (even to completely replacing graphite) in existing battery designs.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.