TECHNOLOGY ASSESSMENT & TRANSFER, INC — Department of Defense STTR Phase II: A14A-T014

Description

Lithium-air batteries have the potential to drastically reduce size and weight of portable power sources for the US Army.However, numerous challenges need to be overcome including the development of electrolytes that are good ionic conductors and electrical insulators, are electrochemically stable, protect the lithium electrode from parasitic reaction and are sufficiently mechanically robust and flexible to account for volume change during charging (secondary cells) and/or discharging (primary and secondary cells).Technology Assessment & Transfer, Inc. (TA&T) and collaborators propose a novel, solvent-free photocurable solid electrolyte membrane for lithium-air batteries.During Phase I, high ionic conductivity and flexibility was achieved through incorporation of high performance cross-linking monomers/oligomers, plasticizers, and fillers.Phase II development will consist of further material optimization and extensive structural, thermal, mechanical, and electrochemical characterization of the solid electrolytes.Application methods will be developed for scaling up the membranes to larger area and performance will be evaluated pouch cell configurations.