CAREER: Pore-Scale Multiphase Mass Transfer in Porous Electrodes

University Of Kansas Center For Research Inc, Lawrence KS

Investigators

Abstract

The rapidly growing markets for electric vehicle and unmanned aerial vehicle present a pressing need of high-power and high-energy electric supplies. While the lithium-ion battery is reaching its theoretical energy density limit, other technologies such as lithium-air battery, fuel cells, and super capacitors have great potential as the next generation energy storage and energy conversion technologies. The power density and energy density of these electrochemical technologies are often limited by the supply of reactants within porous electrodes. Clear understanding of transport phenomena within the pores is required to rationally design and engineer high-performance electrodes and devices. This project will apply advanced imaging technologies, customized electrode materials, and computational approaches to visualize and reconstruct pore-scale geometries of electrodes and develop new theories and tools to understand multiphase transport phenomena in porous electrodes. Results from this project will advance the development of environmentally friendly electric storage and conversion technologies. Research outcomes will be incorporated into summer camps, local STEM education platforms, and curriculum developments to educate and train local students with diverse backgrounds. The partnership with local industry will also nurture an educated professional workforce in the Kansas's metropolitan areas. Porous electrodes with high specific surface area are widely used in a variety of electrochemical systems such as batteries, fuel cells, super capacitors, flow batteries, and electrolysis technologies to provide sufficient reaction sites for electrochemical reactions. The goal of this project is to fundamentally understand pore-scale multiphase transport phenomena applicable to porous electrodes of electrochemical devices, considering spatial distributions of the solid matrix and filling fluids, and directly address key barriers to improved system-level performance (energy, power, efficiency etc.). In pursuit of the research goal, this project will integrate experiments and simulations to elucidate how the spatial distribution of each phase governs the pore-level multiphase transfer and system-level performance of porous electrodes. The clear understanding of the spatial phase distributions on transport phenomena is particularly important for sustaining performance in devices equipped with electrodes whose pore-size distributions and properties change over time. Fundamental knowledge on multiphase transport phenomena will fill a significant knowledge gap in porous-electrode engineering. Results from this project will directly benefit sustainable electricity production and storage technologies, including Li-ion batteries, metal-air batteries, fuel cells, super capacitors, redox flow batteries, and electrolysis technologies, to move the society toward a more sustainable future. This project is jointly funded by CBET Electrochemical Systems program and the Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR). 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.