CHEMTRONERGY LLC — Department of Energy SBIR Phase I: 19a

Description

There is an urgent need for a safe but cost-effective energy storage technology capable of storing intermittent renewable energy at a grid scale. A magnesium-based rechargeable battery technology is a viable ‘environmentally friendly, non-toxic’ alternative to the state-of-the-art Li-ion based battery technologies from the standpoint of high volumetric capacity and low costs. Substantial efforts have been dedicated to the development of the magnesium-based battery technology in the past two decades. Nevertheless, the battery technologies face challenges of a limited ionic conductivity and electrochemical oxidative stability of the electrolytes, thus resulting in low power/energy density. To address the aforementioned issues, the development of a novel Mg-ion conducting electrolyte and the realization of suitable intercalation/insertion cathodes will be critical to the success of Mg-ion based battery technologies. Solid-state Mg-ion conducting electrolyte membranes could have a great potential for building an advanced Mg-based energy storage system with unique cathode materials. Phase I efforts will be focusing on the development of a novel highly conductive, solvent-free, flexible solid-polymer electrolyte membrane for advanced Mg-based rechargeable battery applications. Polymers having different molecule weights and magnesium salt contents will be evaluated for optimum conductivity and ensuring wide electrochemical window. A cost-effective manufacturing process willalso be engineered for scaling-up applications. The successful development of the proposed novel solid-state electrolyte membrane would enable meeting the next generation battery technology requirements for low-cost and high-energy, and thus accelerates the commercialization of large-scale energy storage systems with the enhancement of safety and long cycle life. The commercial application is foreseeably significant for essentially every sector of > $100 billion rechargeable battery market.