Revealing the Inside of a Nanoscale Na-ion Battery: New Understanding on Sodium Intercalation in Cathodes

揭示纳米级钠离子电池的内部：对阴极钠嵌入的新认识

• 批准号: 1619743
• 负责人: Reza Shahbazian- Yassar
• 金额: $ 27.38万
• 依托单位: University of Illinois at Chicago
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2015
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2015-08-16 至 2017-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1619743&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Revealing; Inside; Nanoscale; Na; ion

The research objective of this grant is to advance the understanding of the underlying mechanisms that are active in Na-ion reactions in electrodes and chemically-induced failure and fracture in Na-ion batteries. For this purpose, the cathode electrode will be subjected to electrochemical probing inside a transmission electron microscope (TEM) where the microstructure of electrodes can be simultaneously monitored in high resolution. Room-temperature rechargeable Na-ion batteries can be competitive to Li-ion batteries due to their lower cost and the widespread availability of the sodium resources. While tremendous research is focused on Li-ion batteries worldwide, scientific challenges associated with room-temperature rechargeable sodium-ion batteries have been relatively unexplored. This is of prime importance considering that Li resources are very limited and their price has increased continuously during the past 20 years. The challenges of Na-ion batteries are much more complicated than the Li-ion case, as Na-ions are larger than Li-ions by 70 percent, which induces large mechanical stresses upon driving the Na-ions into the host electrode. The entry of sodium into the electrodes triggers complicated chemical reactions and failures that are poorly understood, and the battery life is reduced drastically.An important challenge in the broad use of Na-ion batteries is the very low cycling stability in service conditions. Through this grant, the PI will investigate several unresolved scientific challenges in new cathode materials which, if successfully resolved, could enable the commercialization of long lasting rechargeable Na-ion battery technologies. Several venues for integrating research with undergraduate education and outreach activities are proposed. Female and minority students for undergraduate education will be exposed to this research project through simple introductions to the battery subject. Other outreach activities are also planned for local high school female and underrepresented students. Real time videos of microscopy experiments will be produced and made available to the community via YouTube© and selected scientific networks.

该赠款的研究目的是提高对电极中Na-ion反应中活性的基本机制的理解以及Na-ion电池中化学诱导的故障和断裂。为此，阴极电极将在透射电子显微镜（TEM）内进行电化学探测，其中电极的显微结构可以很容易地以高分辨率进行监测。室温可充电的Na-ion电池由于其成本较低和钠资源的宽度可用性，因此可以与锂离子电池竞争。尽管巨大的研究集中在全球的锂离子电池上，但与室温可充电钠离子电池相关的科学挑战相对出乎意料。考虑到Li资源非常有限，并且在过去20年中，其价格持续上涨，这是很重要的。 Na-ion电池的挑战比锂离子情况要复杂得多，因为Na-ion大于70％的锂离子，这在将Na-ions驱入宿主电极时会引起巨大的机械应力。钠进入电极的进入触发了复杂的化学反应和易于理解的故障，并且电池寿命大大降低了。在广泛使用Na-ion电池的重要挑战是服务条件下的循环稳定性非常低。通过这笔赠款，PI将研究新的阴极材料中的几个未解决的科学挑战，如果成功解决，可以实现持久可充电的Na-Ion电池技术的商业化。提出了将研究与本科教育和外展活动相结合的几个场所。在本科教育的女学生和少数民族学生将通过简单地介绍电池主题来接触该研究项目。还计划针对当地高中女性和代表性不足的学生进行其他外展活动。显微镜实验的实时视频将通过YouTube©和选定的Scientific Networks制作并提供给社区。