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

安全、低成本和可扩展的能量存储对于绿色经济、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，才能与化石燃料在电网存储、长途运输、工业过程和恶劣环境中竞争。许多“超越锂离子”的电化学储能技术正在兴起，其中大部分依赖于碱金属合金。核心问题有两个：1）碱金属的电化学反应性尚未完全理解。反应途径和产物因方法而异-第一原理计算的预测并不总是与使用热或电化学方法产生的材料的实验测量一致（它们也彼此不同）。热力学和动力学障碍可能导致亚稳态或无序相，这可能难以实验（或计算）重现。2)氧-、水-和有时氮-反应性合金的结构、化学和机械性质难以测量，并且难以反馈到改进的模型和改进的装置中。该计划利用我独特的先进表征方法，学术合作，工业合作伙伴，以及国家研究理事会的支持，将电化学和热方法结合起来。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，他们追求对锂和钠金属反应性的基本见解以及对合金物理性能的可靠测量。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，识别和解释条件依赖的反应途径，并测量物理特性。先进合金将用于开发新的实验方法和改进的储能装置。该计划结合了基础的多学科培训，尖端的仪器仪表，以及对工业和社会影响的明确路线，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.