Development and characterization of materials for electrochemical energy storage

近年来，公众对温室气体排放造成的全球气候变化的认识显著提高。在促进低碳经济方面已经花费了大量的努力。高效电能储存(EES)设备是实现这一目标的关键部件。EES设备是用来存储化学或物理能量的介质，这些能量可以在以后转化为电能。电动汽车技术很重要，因为它们有潜力促进各种可再生能源的大规模部署；例如，在电动汽车(EV)和混合动力汽车(HEV)中。EES设备的开发和商业化受到一些材料工程问题的限制，这些问题与这些设备的制造、操作和长期可靠性有关。所有这些问题都与表面和界面有关，需要深入了解各种材料之间的相互作用以及相关表面上发生的任何反应。建议的研究重点是开发和表征用于电除尘器应用的新型材料。拟议的工作将涉及两个重点领域：金属-空气(例如，锌-空气)电池新型电极材料的开发和固体氧化物燃料电池(SOFC)负极组件的长期微观结构变化。

Public awareness of global climate change resulting from green house gas emission has increased significantly in recent years. Much effort has been spent on promoting a low carbon economy. High efficiency electrical energy storage (EES) devices are a key component in reaching this goal. EES devices are the media used to store chemical or physical energy that can be later converted back to electricity. EES technologies are important as they have the potential to facilitate large-scale deployment of various renewable electricity generation sources; e.g., in electric vehicles (EVs) and hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs). EES device development and commercialization are limited by a number of materials engineering issues related to the fabrication, operation and long term reliability of these devices. All these issues are surface and interface related, requiring an in-depth understanding of the interactions among the various materials and any reactions that occur at the relevant surfaces. The main focus of the proposed research is the development and characterization of novel materials for EES applications. The proposed work will involve two focus areas: the development of novel electrode materials for metal-air (e.g., Zn-air) batteries and long term microstructural changes in the anode component of solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs).