Low-cost, high-sustainability all-organic dual-ion batteries
Student researcher: Erick Villatoro-Telon
Advisor: Dr. Chao Luo
The increasing dependence on portable electronics, electric vehicles, and stationary electrical energy storage has stimulated a demand in low-cost and sustainable energy storage strategies. The commercial Li-ion batteries (LIBs) cannot satisfy this demand, because the large-scale application of LIBs is limited by following factors: high toxicity and scarcity of transition metal (Co) resources and high cost of Li resources. The discovery of new organic materials and increased understanding of new redox chemistry beyond LIBs has afforded a resurgence in the field to invent new types of batteries with novel multifunctional organic materials that do not require lithium and cobalt resources. The objective of this project is to obtain low-cost and high-sustainability all-organic dual-ion batteries for grid-scale stationary electrical energy storage. To achieve this objective, following interconnected technical tasks will be completed: 1) Design and synthesis of high-performance n-type organic anode materials; 2) Design and synthesis of anion-insertion reaction-based p-type polymeric cathode materials; 3) Coupling the organic anode and cathode to fulfill the aim of low-cost and high-sustainability all-organic sodium batteries.
New sodium-ion batterie with improved performance
Student researcher: Maxwell Birkel
Advisor: Dr. Chao Luo
Sodium-ion batteries (SIBs) have attracted extensive attention in academics and industry due to the merits of resource abundance and low cost, which is particularly intriguing for large-scale energy storage systems. However, the development of SIBs is still facing significant challenges in all the essential components, such as cathode, anode, and electrolyte. To enhance the energy density of SIBs, considerable efforts should be devoted to developing feasible cathode, anode, and electrolyte materials. In this project, we will design and develop a new SIB with improved battery performance by integrating the new hard carbon anodes and electrolytes. Hard carbon is the material of choice, but inconsistent material processing has led to high variability in performance. We will make the quality controlled hard carbons with the specific capacity of >300 mAh/g and cycle life of >1,000 cycles. For the electrolyte, poor SEI forming characteristics limit the ability to protect the active material surfaces, leading to a decline in performance. The synthesized SIB electrolytes are expected to exhibit high Na+ conductivity (≥10 mS/cm at room temperature), resulting in good rate capability.
