I-Corps: Advanced anode material for lithium-ion batteries based on filled carbon nanotubes

这个i-Corps项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力将是锂离子电池(LIB)的改进。目前的锂离子电池由于采用石墨阳极，在能量密度和充电速度上往往受到限制。这些限制导致LIB的尺寸和重量更大，适用于远程电动汽车(EVS)等高级应用。该技术涉及一种新型纳米材料--硫化镍填充碳纳米管，它可以取代传统的石墨阳极，提高锂离子电池的性能。这一创新可以缓解当前阳极技术中的上述问题，并可以开发用于电动汽车、电网储能和电动航空的下一代高性能锂离子电池。通过使Lib技术得到更广泛的采用，该项目可以帮助减少与气候变化有关的排放。i-Corps项目将促进对金属硫化物填充的碳纳米管基本电化学性质的了解。具体地说，该团队将帮助了解固体核-壳结构如何影响电子和锂离子的传输，以及锂化纳米线填充物的体积膨胀是如何被碳壳容纳的。预期的结果将为金属硫化物纳米线填充的碳纳米管在锂离子电池(Lib)应用中的电化学性质提供新的见解。在本项目中，我们开发了硫化镍填充碳纳米管的纳米材料，以及在柔性碳布上合成这些材料的技术。研究表明，这些纳米材料的储能能力是目前商用石墨负极材料的数倍。此外，纳米材料表现出了非凡的充放电稳定性。这一奖项反映了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 broader impact/commercial potential of this I-Corps project will be in the improvement of lithium-ion batteries (LIBs). Current LIBs are often limited in energy density and charging speed due to their graphite anode. These limits result in larger sizes and weights of LIBs for advanced applications such as long-range electric vehicles (EVs). The proposed technology involves a novel nanomaterial, nickel sulfide-filled carbon nanotubes, that can replace the conventional graphite anode and enhance the performance of LIBs. This innovation can alleviate the aforementioned problems in current anode technologies and can enable development of the next generation of high performance LIBs for EVs, grid energy storage, and electric aviation. By enabling wider adoption of LIB technologies, this project can help reduce emissions linked to climate change.This I-Corps project will advance the knowledge in the fundamental electrochemical properties of metal sulfide-filled carbon nanotubes. Specifically, the team will help to understand how the solid core-shell structure affects the transport of electrons and lithium ions and how the volume expansion of the lithiated nanowire filler is accommodated by the carbon shells. The expected results will provide new insight into the electrochemical properties of carbon nanotubes filled with metal sulfide nanowires in lithium-ion battery (LIB) applications. In this project, nanomaterials of nickel sulfide filled carbon nanotubes are developed together with techniques to synthesize these materials on flexible carbon cloth. These nanomaterials have been shown to exhibit energy storage capacity which is several times that of the current commercial graphite anode materials. Further, the nanomaterials have shown exceptional charging-discharging stability.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.