NSERC-DFG SUSTAIN: Carbon materials from oil sands-derived asphaltenes for next generation sodium-ion batteries - from mechanistic investigations to life cycle analysis

NSERC-DFG SUSTAIN：用于下一代钠离子电池的来自油砂衍生沥青质的碳材料 - 从机械研究到生命周期分析

• 批准号: 534334554
• 负责人: Professor Dr. Jan Philipp Hofmann
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada
• 依托单位国家: 德国
• 项目类别: Research Grants
• 资助国家: 德国
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gepris.dfg.de/gepris/projekt/534334554?language=en
• 关键词: NSERC; DFG; SUSTAIN; Carbon; materials

Lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) are the currently established electrochemical energy storage devices in fields where high energy density is a strong requirement. It is expected that the current annual demand for lithium will increase by a factor of 18-20 until 2050, driven by the increasing demand for automotive lithium-based batteries. The limited availability of lithium and the environmental issues associated with its extraction are the main driving forces for research on alternative battery systems such as sodium-ion batteries (SIBs). The commercialization of SIBs is in progress, however, the SIB technology, which uses mainly soft- and hard carbons fabricated from expensive natural precursors as anode material, still suffers from lower specific gravimetric energies than graphite-based LIB systems. As one of the largest LIB producer world-wide, there is a special interest for the German economy to also take part in the commercialization of environmentally friendlier battery systems such as SIBs. One major aspect for the commercialization of a battery product, besides high specific capacity and stability, is its price. It is crucial to use starting materials with a low cost. A potential abundantly available and low-cost anode precursor are so-called asphaltenes. In Alberta, Canada, thousands of tons of asphaltenes are produced daily, as a byproduct of oil sands processing. Technically, they are defined as the crude fraction, which precipitates upon the addition of an excess of n-heptane, but are soluble in toluene. Asphaltenes are currently applied as paving materials, waterproof coatings on building foundations. However, their present applications do not generate the need even close to the amount generated. Therefore, asphaltenes are often simply combusted. Consequently, there is a big interest of Canadian researchers to upcycle such asphaltenes and to thereby extend their life-cycle. OILSANDSBATT will combine these two aims together into one collaborative work between German battery and Canadian material engineering experts. The idea behind the project is to generate a unique synergy between two research foci of Canada and Germany, namely the value-adding upgrade of the waste product asphaltenes and the development of electrode materials for future battery systems, respectively. OILSANDSBATT will focus on the development of next-generation SIBs, which will use oil sands-derived asphaltenes for the fabrication of anode materials. The main scientific objectives within the planned project are i) the establishment of asphaltenes-derived carbon fibers and carbon modified carbon fibers as anode materials in SIB, ii) to investigate underlying storage mechanisms to enable targeted optimization of the cells towards high energy density and lifetime, and iii) the estimation of the product’s CO2 emissions based on an LCA analysis, which will built on the data from the synthetically and electrochemically oriented work packages.

锂离子电池（LIB）是目前在高能量密度有强烈要求的领域建立的电化学储能装置，预计到2050年，锂离子电池的年需求量将增长18-20倍。汽车锂基电池的需求不断增长。锂的供应有限以及与其提取相关的环境问题是钠离子电池（SIB）等替代电池系统研究和商业化的主要驱动力。然而，SIB 技术主要使用由天然前驱体制成的软碳和硬碳作为阳极材料，但其比重能量仍然低于基于石墨的 LIB 系统。作为最大的昂贵的 LIB 生产商之一。在全球范围内，德国经济对参与 SIB 等环保电池系统的商业化特别感兴趣，除了高比容量和稳定性之外，电池产品商业化的一个主要方面是它。使用低成本的原材料至关重要，即所谓的沥青质，作为油砂的副产品。从技术上讲，它们被定义为粗馏分，在添加过量正庚烷时沉淀，但可溶于甲苯，目前沥青质被用作铺路材料、建筑防水涂料。然而，它们目前的应用并没有产生接近其产生量的需求，因此，沥青质通常被简单地燃烧，加拿大研究人员对升级改造此类沥青质并从而延长其生命周期非常感兴趣。 OILSANDSBATT 将把这两个目标结合到德国电池和加拿大材料工程专家之间的一项合作中，该项目背后的想法是在加拿大和德国的两个研究重点之间产生独特的协同作用，即电池的增值升级。废品沥青质和未来电池系统电极材料的开发将分别侧重于下一代SIB的开发，该系统将使用油砂衍生的沥青质来制造阳极材料。项目是 i) 在 SIB 中建立沥青质衍生碳纤维和碳改性碳纤维作为阳极材料，ii) 研究潜在的存储机制，以便有针对性地优化电池以实现高能量密度和寿命， iii) 根据 LCA 分析估算产品的二氧化碳排放量，该分析将建立在合成和电化学导向工作包的数据基础上。