GOALI: Electrochemical Sodiation of Selenium

University Of Texas At Austin, Austin TX

Investigators

Abstract

NON-TECHNICAL DESCRIPTION: This project will bring high-energy sodium metal batteries (NMBs) much closer to commercialization, potentially transforming the entire secondary battery field including automotive and stationary storage, accelerating the transition away from CO2 emitting fuels. The project's outcomes will help to mitigate a major crisis that is imminent if lithium ion batteries (LIBs) displace the fossil fuels in automotive and stationary energy storage applications. Mined supplies of the lithium carbonate precursor are limited in availability, so large-scale deployment of LIBs in electric vehicles and electric grids may lead to major lithium shortages. Akin to the well-known "Oil Shocks" of the past, a precursor shortage could lead to a series of lithium price shocks, threatening to derail the entire electric vehicle movement. Unlike lithium, sodium is both easy to find and is inexpensive, with wide supplies of precursors available on land and from salt water through desalination. Importantly, this GOALI research project will result in new engineering and scientific knowledge essential to Graphenix Development Inc.'s efforts to pursue their "next-generation" battery development strategy. Such effort will help U.S.-based company (headquarters in Buffalo NY, manufacturing in Rochester NY) towards becoming a global green energy storage leader. The graduate students supported through this project should find post-graduate work in a number of emerging U.S. renewable energy industries, such as in electric vehicles. This research is providing opportunities for U.S. Military Veterans and local high-school students to engage in both academic and industrial learning activities. Also, this project involves direct interactions with staff at Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) and at Sandia National Laboratory (SNL). TECHNICAL DETAILS: This combined experimental-modeling effort addresses the core of the structure-properties relationships in energy storing materials. The project will elucidate the fundamental questions regarding how sodium is stored and transported at various states of charge in "beyond lithium" systems, such as in selenium - carbon nanocomposite battery cathodes. Many of the existing "lithium-inherited" paradigms will be done away with, leading to the transformative, new understanding of sodiation electrochemical reactions. This study provides an opportunity to broaden understanding of the rich array of possible complex solid-state phenomena in energy storage materials. The effort combines electroanalytical and structural characterization methods with atomic level simulation. Advanced techniques are being employed, including site-specific transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and surface spectroscopy of the electrodes at various voltages, cycle numbers, and states of degradation. 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.