EV BATTERIES
Department of Energy awards $125 Million for research to enable next-generation batteries and energy storage
Energy Innovation Hub teams will emphasize multi-disciplinary fundamental research to address long-standing and emerging challenges for rechargeable batteries
DOE/US Department of Energy
WASHINGTON, D.C. - Today, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced $125 million in funding for two Energy Innovation Hub teams to provide the scientific foundation needed to seed and accelerate next generation technologies beyond today’s generation of lithium (Li)-ion batteries. These multi-institution research teams, led by Argonne National Laboratory and Stanford University, will develop scientific concepts and understanding to impact decarbonization of transportation and incorporation of clean energy into the electricity grid.
Rechargeable batteries, such as Li-ion and lead-acid batteries, have had a tremendous impact on the nation’s economy. Emerging applications will require even greater energy storage capabilities, safer operation, lower costs, and diversity of materials to manufacture batteries. Meeting these challenges requires a better understanding of foundational battery and materials sciences to enable scalable battery designs with versatile and reversible energy storage capabilities beyond what is currently possible. Additional benefits may include mitigation of supply chain risks associated with the current generation of batteries.
"Providing the scientific foundation to accelerate this important research is key to our economy and making sure the U.S. plays a lead role in transforming the way we store and use electricity,” said Harriet Kung, DOE’s Acting Director for the Office of Science. “Today's awards provide our Energy Innovation Hub teams with the tools and resources to solve some of the most challenging science problems that are limiting our ability to decarbonize transportation and incorporate clean energy into the electricity grid."
The two Energy Innovation Hub teams are the Energy Storage Research Alliance (ESRA) led by Argonne National Laboratory and the Aqueous Battery Consortium (ABC) led by Stanford University. ESRA will provide the scientific underpinning to develop new compact batteries for heavy-duty transportation and energy storage solutions for the grid with a focus on achieving unprecedented molecular-level control of chemical reactivity, ion selectivity, and directional transport in complex electrochemical cells. ABC will focus on establishing the scientific foundation for large-scale development and deployment of aqueous batteries for long-duration grid storage technologies. Both of these teams will prioritize study and use of Earth-abundant materials to mitigate supply chain risks.
Both Energy Innovation Hubs teams are comprised of multiple institutions, including Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and other Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs). The projects provide an outstanding opportunity for workforce development in energy storage research and inclusive research involving diverse individuals from diverse institutions.
The teams were selected by competitive peer review under the DOE Funding Opportunity Announcement for the Energy Innovation Hub Program: Research to Enable Next-Generation Batteries and Energy Storage. While focused on basic science, the Funding Opportunity Announcement was developed in coordination through the DOE Joint Strategy Team for Batteries.
Total funding is $125 million for awards lasting up to five years in duration. More information can be found on the Basic Energy Sciences program homepage and Energy Innovation Hubs page.
Selection for award negotiations is not a commitment by DOE to issue an award or provide funding. Before funding is issued, DOE and the applicants will undergo a negotiation process, and DOE may cancel negotiations and rescind the selection for any reason during that time.
Korean researchers overcome critical challenges in
developing fire-risk-free aqueous zinc batteries
KIER and UNIST have successfully suppressed the formation of dendrites, a critical issue in aqueous zinc batteries, by using copper oxide
National Research Council of Science & Technology
The developed electrode (a) shows more uniform deposition compared to the zinc (b) and carbon (c) electrode.
Credit: Korea Institute of Energy Research (KIER)
Dr. Jung-Je Woo from the Gwangju Clean Energy Research Center at the Korea Institute of Energy Research (KIER), along with Professor Jaephil Cho's research team from Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST), has developed a key electrode manufacturing technology that can control dendrite formation in aqueous zinc batteries.
* Dendrite: A phenomenon where metal ions are deposited disorderly on the anode during the charging process of a battery, forming elongated, branch-like structures. If this irregular growth continues, it can cause short circuits, severely affecting the stability of the battery and shortening its lifespan.
Aqueous zinc batteries are secondary batteries that use water as the electrolyte, making them free from fire risks and environmentally friendly compared to lithium-ion batteries, which use volatile liquid electrolytes. Additionally, since aqueous zinc batteries use two electrons per ion, they can theoretically offer more than twice the capacity of lithium-ion batteries, which use only one electron per ion.
However, there is a problem with the dendrite phenomenon, where zinc is deposited in elongated forms on the surface of the anode during the charging process, leading to a shorter lifespan. The formed dendrites can pierce the separator between the anode and cathode, causing electrical short circuits and severely impacting the battery's performance. Particularly, dendrites form more actively in aqueous zinc batteries than in lithium-ion batteries, making this a significant obstacle to the commercialization of the technology.
The research team successfully used copper oxide to promote uniform zinc deposition and control dendrite formation. When electrodes made using this method were applied to batteries, they demonstrated a lifespan more than ten times longer than conventional batteries.
In the past, the primary method used to suppress dendrite formation involved adding promoters like copper to accelerate the initial growth of zinc and guide uniform deposition. However, a problem with this approach was that dendrite formation would recur with repeated charging and discharging cycles of the battery.
In response, the research team devised a method to control dendrite formation step-by-step using copper oxide. Like regular copper, copper oxide promotes the initial growth of zinc and guides its deposition. Additionally, copper oxide has optimized conductivity for depositing zinc in a uniform distribution, allowing for more efficient deposition compared to regular copper.
After distributing zinc uniformly, copper oxide self-transforms into a scaffold. The scaffold acts like a fence, suppressing disordered zinc deposition and growth. This allows for the continuous prevention of dendrite formation, even with repeated charging and discharging cycles.
* Scaffold: A structure composed at the nano-micro scale designed to physically suppress the disordered deposition of metals like zinc.
The batteries using the research team's technology demonstrated a lifespan more than ten times longer than conventional aqueous zinc batteries, increasing the potential for commercialization.
* Conventional aqueous zinc batteries: After 300 charge-discharge cycles, the formation of dendrites causes the capacity to decrease to below 80%.
** Research Outcome: By suppressing dendrite formation, the battery maintains 80% of its capacity even after 3,000 charge-discharge cycles.
The research team successfully controlled zinc deposition to achieve a world-leading capacity of 60 mAh/cm². They also demonstrated durability through more than 3,000 battery performance tests and confirmed that the technology could be applied to large-area electrodes of 64 cm².
Dr. Jung-Je Woo, the lead researcher, stated, "The significance of this research is that it provides a solution to the challenge of dendrite formation in metal batteries such as aqueous zinc batteries using low-cost processes and materials like copper oxide." He added, “We aim to contribute to the commercialization of aqueous batteries through follow-up research that standardizes and systematizes the developed electrodes.”
The technology developed by the research team was published as a cover article in the August issue of the prestigious journal Advanced Energy Materials (Impact Factor 24.4, top 2.9%) in the field of energy and materials.
Journal
Advanced Energy Materials
DOI
10.1002/aenm.202401820
Article Title
Self-Converted Scaffold Enables Dendrite-Free and Long-LifeZn-Ion Batteries
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