FMRG: Eco: Dry manufacturing of Solid-State Sodium Batteries for Energy STorage at large scale (S3-BEST)

建筑物、风电场和太阳能发电场以及电网的储能系统在缓解能源、可持续性和气候变化挑战方面发挥着越来越重要的作用。人们希望充电电池具有高安全性、低成本、长寿命和对环境变化的高恢复能力。今天的锂离子电池(LIB)已经不能满足这些要求，因为与易燃液体电解液相关的安全问题，以及通常用于制造锂离子电池的关键材料(如钴、镍、锂)的缩放挑战。钠(钠)全固态电池(NaSSB)被认为是新兴的大规模存储应用中LiB的一种有前途的替代技术。然而，NaSSB中使用的固态电解液(SSE)具有有限的离子导电性、空气/湿度敏感性以及与电池中其他组件的界面不稳定。开发高效和环保的制造工艺的主要挑战是：1)电极和SSE的厚度、孔隙率和一致性的精确控制；2)低缺陷的高速混合和轧制；以及3)高纯度的回收材料，其性能与原始材料相同。这个未来制造研究资助(FMRG)生态制造项目将开发新的知识，帮助将今天的NaSSB电池制造转变为基于干法制造工艺的闭环、环保、高精度和高产量的技术。它还将使制造过程更安全和更便宜，因为电池能量密度增加，消除了腐蚀性有机溶剂以及相关的安全预防措施。不仅限于固态电池，这个项目中开发的新概念和知识可以被用来提高今天LIB制造的生产效率和降低成本。因此，它有可能使能源储存更容易被接受和负担得起，这将有助于能源行业转向更多可再生能源，从而导致一个碳中和社会。同时，将开发新的教育、培训和劳动力发展计划，以改善制造业预科、本科生和研究生的平等和机会。该项目的目标是开发一种范式转变的干法制造方法，以实现用于安全、低成本和有弹性的大型能量存储系统的生态友好型NaSSB制造，以帮助美国实现可持续发展目标。该项目将汇集化学工程、纳米工程、化学、材料科学、生命周期分析/技术经济分析、机器学习和数据科学方面的专业知识，以及社区大学和行业的合作者，以开发新的制造工艺、先进的材料和新的电池原型，这些都可能用于广泛的大规模存储系统。研究将集中于通过四个高度协同的推动来填补NaSSB制造方面的科学和知识空白：1)为阴极、固态电解液和阳极设计干法制造工艺，以使NaSSB电池架构具有高容量负载和长周期；2)集成技术经济和生命周期分析，以指导和改进制造步骤、材料进步和回收工艺。3)通过材料界面工程和制造过程的在线分析，实现多尺度的质量控制和标准化；4)闭环系统和无废物回收的设计和示范。这项研究创造的新知识和新工具将在大规模系统中实现环保、低成本和安全的能源储存，以建立可持续的能源基础设施。这个未来制造项目由工程局电气、通信和网络系统(ECCS)、化学、生物工程、环境和运输系统(CBET)和土木工程、机械和制造创新(CMMI)部门联合资助，教育和人力资源局本科教育部门(DUE)，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。

Energy storage systems for buildings, wind and solar farms, and electric grids are playing an increasingly important role in mitigating the energy, sustainability and climate change challenges. Rechargeable batteries with high safety, low cost, long life and high resilience to environment changes are desired. Today’s lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) can no longer meet these requirements because of the safety issues associated with flammable liquid electrolytes and scaling challenges for critical materials (e.g., cobalt, nickel, lithium) that are typically used for making them. The sodium (Na) all-solid-state battery (NaSSB) is considered a promising alternative technology to LIB for emerging large-scale storage applications. However, solid-state electrolytes (SSEs) used in NaSSB have limited ionic conductivity, air/moisture sensitivity and interface instability with other components in the battery. The major challenges towards the development of efficient and eco-friendly manufacturing process are the achievement of: 1) precision control of the thickness, porosity, and uniformity of electrodes and SSEs; 2) high-speed mixing and rolling with low defects; and 3) high-purity of recycled material with the same level of performance as pristine materials. This Future Manufacturing Research Grant (FMRG) EcoManufacturing project will develop new knowledge to help transform today’s NaSSB battery manufacturing to a closed-loop, eco-friendly, high-precision, and high-yield technology based on a dry fabrication process. It will also make the manufacturing process safer and cheaper because of the increased cell energy density, and the elimination of caustic organic solvents as well as the related safety precautions. Not only limited to solid-state batteries, the new concept and knowledge developed in this project can be leveraged to improve the production efficiency and lower the cost of today’s LIB manufacturing. Therefore, it has the potential to make energy storage more acceptable and affordable, which will help the energy industry to shift towards more renewable sources, leading to a carbon-neutral society. In parallel, new education, training and workforce development programs will be developed to improve equality and opportunities for pre-college, undergraduate and graduate students in the manufacturing industry.The goal of this project is to develop a paradigm-shift dry fabrication approach to enable eco-friendly manufacturing of NaSSBs for safe, low-cost and resilient large energy storage systems to help the United States meet the sustainable development goal. This project will assemble expertise in chemical engineering, nanoengineering, chemistry, materials science, life-cycle analysis/technoeconomic analysis, machine learning and data science, as well as collaborators in community colleges and industry to develop new fabrication processes, advanced materials and new battery protypes that can potentially be used for a wide range of large-scale storage systems. The research will focus on filling the science and knowledge gaps in NaSSB manufacturing through four highly synergistic thrusts: 1) Dry fabrication processes design for cathode, solid-state electrolytes and anode to enable NaSSB cell architecture with high-capacity loading and long-cycling; 2) Integrated technoeconomic and life-cycle analysis to guide and improve manufacturing steps, materials advancement and recycling process. 3) Multiscale quality control and standardization through materials interfacial engineering and inline analysis for the fabrication process; 4) Design and demonstration of closed-loop and waste-free recycling. The new knowledge and tools created from this research will enable eco-friendly, low-cost and safe energy storage in large scale systems for a sustainable energy infrastructure.This Future Manufacturing project is jointly funded by the Divisions of Electrical, Communications and Cyber Systems (ECCS), Chemical, Bioengineering, Environmental and Transport Systems (CBET), and Civil, Mechanical and Manufacturing Innovation (CMMI) in the Directorate of Engineering, the Division of Undergraduate Education (DUE) in the Directorate for Education and Human Resources, and the Office of International Science and Engineering (OISE).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.