Dynamic alkali metal alloys for low cost, high performance energy storage

安全、低成本和可扩展的能源储存对绿色经济、环境和社会至关重要。锂离子电池是当今占主导地位的储能技术。电池驱动的可再生能源需要取得重大进展，才能在长途运输、工业流程和恶劣环境中与化石燃料竞争电网存储。许多超越锂离子的电化学储能技术正在涌现，其中大多数依赖于碱金属合金。主要有两个核心问题：1)碱金属的电化学反应能力还没有完全被了解。反应路径和产物因方法不同而不同--第一性原理的计算结果并不总是与使用热法或电化学法生产的材料的实验测量结果一致(这两种方法也不同)。热力学和动力学障碍可能导致亚稳态或无序相，这可能很难通过实验(或计算)再现。2)含氧、含水、有时含氮的反应合金的结构、化学和机械性能很难测量，并反馈到改进的模型和改进的装置中。该计划利用我独特的一套先进的表征方法、学术合作、行业合作伙伴和国家研究委员会的支持，将电化学方法和热方法结合起来。申请的资金将使两名研究生能够加入我们的研究和技术人员团队，博士后研究员、合作社和高中生正在寻求对锂和钠金属反应性的基本见解，并对合金物理性能进行可靠的测量。研究生将使用我的变温电化学、结构和机械测试平台来量化、理解和克服动力学和热力学障碍，创造新的亚稳材料，识别和解释依赖条件的反应路径，并测量物理性质。先进的合金将被用于开发新的实验方法和改进的储能装置。该项目结合了基础性的多学科培训、尖端的仪器设备，以及对工业和社会产生影响的明确途径，为毕业生推动我们迫切需要的清洁能源和材料革命做好准备。

Safe, low cost, and scalable energy storage is critical to the green economy, the environment, and society. Lithium-ion batteries are the dominant energy storage technology today. Major advancements are required for battery-enabled renewable energy to compete with fossil fuels for grid storage, in long distance transportation, industrial processes, and in harsh environments. Many 'beyond lithium-ion' electrochemical energy storage technologies are emerging, most of which depend on alkali-metal alloys. There are two core problems: 1) alkali-metal electrochemical reactivity is not fully understood. Reaction pathways and products vary with approach - predictions from first principles calculations do not always agree with experimental measurements of materials produced using thermal or electrochemical methods (which also differ from each other). Thermodynamic and kinetic barriers can lead to metastable or disordered phases which can be difficult to experimentally (or computationally) reproduce. 2) The structural, chemical, and mechanical properties of oxygen-, water-, and sometimes nitrogen-reactive alloys are difficult to measure, and feed back in to improved models and improved devices. This program leverages my unique suite of advanced characterization methods, academic collaborations, industrial partners, and support from the National Research Council to unite electrochemical and thermal methods. Requested funding will enable two graduate students to join our team of research and technical staff, postdoctoral fellows, co-op and high school students pursuing fundamental insight in to lithium and sodium-metal reactivity and robust measurements of alloy physical properties. Graduate students will use my variable-temperature electrochemical, structural, and mechanical test platform to quantify, understand, and overcome kinetic and thermodynamic barriers, create new metastable materials, identify and explain condition-dependent reaction pathways, and measure physical properties. Advanced alloys will be used to develop new experimental methods and improved energy storage devices. This program combines foundational multidisciplinary training, cutting-edge instrumentation, and clear routes to industrial and societal impact to prepare graduates to drive the clean energy and materials revolutions we so desperately need.