73
Low-Cost
Nanoporous Sol Gel Separators for Lithium-Based Batteries--Optodot
Corporation, 750 Main Street, Cambridge,
MA
02139-3544;
617-494-9011
Dr.
Steven A. Carlson, Principal Investigator, scarlson@optodot.com
Dr.
Steven A. Carlson, Business Official, scarlson@optodot.com
DOE
Grant No. DE-FG02-02ER83542
Amount:
$100,000
Lithium-based
batteries for vehicles need to be longer lasting, faster recharging, able to
deliver high power pulses, safer, higher energy density, and lower in cost.
However, the commercial microporous plastic polymer separators used in these
batteries are too expensive and are very limited in their ability to provide
these needed performance improvements. This
project will develop nanoporous sol gel coatings as a new type of separator that
can be coated from a water-based solution at less than one-half the cost per
square meter of commercial plastic separators.
The non-flammable, ionic, and ultrathin properties of the sol gel
separators would allow major improvements in the safety, recharging and
discharging speeds, lifetime, and energy density of lithium-based batteries.
In Phase I, tough but flexible sol gel separators will be designed to
match or exceed the mechanical properties of commercial plastic separators.
The ionic content of the sol gel separators will be increased to exceed
the specific conductivity found with standard electrolytes and separators.
Two processes for making the sol gel separators will be compared with
respect to overall performance and low cost, before selecting a specific product
design and manufacturing process.
Commercial
Applications and Other Benefits
as described by the awardee: Besides
providing separators for lithium-based batteries for vehicles, sol gel
separators could be used for other lithium-based battery applications such as
cell phones, as separator membranes
for fuel cells, as optical waveguides for telecommunications, as ultrafiltration
membranes for purifying water, as dye-sensitized sol gel coatings for solar
splitting of water or methanol to produce hydrogen fuel, and as photoquality ink
jet printing materials.