| NSF Org: |
TI Translational Impacts |
| Recipient: |
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| Initial Amendment Date: | December 23, 2017 |
| Latest Amendment Date: | December 23, 2017 |
| Award Number: | 1746210 |
| Award Instrument: | Standard Grant |
| Program Manager: |
Anna Brady-Estevez
TI Translational Impacts TIP Directorate for Technology, Innovation, and Partnerships |
| Start Date: | January 1, 2018 |
| End Date: | February 28, 2019 (Estimated) |
| Total Intended Award Amount: | $225,000.00 |
| Total Awarded Amount to Date: | $225,000.00 |
| Funds Obligated to Date: |
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| History of Investigator: |
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| Recipient Sponsored Research Office: |
7100 EUCLID AVE CLEVELAND OH US 44103-4037 (313)610-2718 |
| Sponsor Congressional District: |
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| Primary Place of Performance: |
10900 Euclid Avenue Cleveland OH US 44106-7164 |
| Primary Place of
Performance Congressional District: |
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| Unique Entity Identifier (UEI): |
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| Parent UEI: |
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| NSF Program(s): | STTR Phase I |
| Primary Program Source: |
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| Program Reference Code(s): |
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| Program Element Code(s): |
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| Award Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Fund Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Assistance Listing Number(s): | 47.084 |
ABSTRACT
This STTR Phase I project will remove the most critical roadblock to making long-lasting batteries from safe and economical zinc and air. Zinc is plentiful in the U.S. and zinc-air batteries have the potential to hold more than five times the energy of current lithium-ion batteries, but a key challenge for making rechargeable zinc-air batteries is that the zinc inside the battery naturally forms sharp needles called dendrites during recharging. Over time these dendrites can grow large enough to damage the inner workings of the battery, reducing efficiency and lifetime. This project will borrow principles from an adjacent field, the electroplating industry, to create new organic chemicals that will seek out and stop dendrite growth within the battery during recharging. Chemical additives have a long history in electroplating for controlling the shape of metal surfaces, and the same principles can apply to additives designed here to control zinc growth during battery recharging. This new technology will make zinc-air batteries cheaper and longer-lasting to eventually replace existing battery technologies, enabling longer-distance electric vehicles, reducing equipment weight for soldiers, contributing a valuable technology to the economy, and helping to maintain the role of the U.S. as a leader in energy storage technology.
This STTR Phase I project will identify the critical chemistry necessary to elegantly and economically suppress zinc dendrite formation, alleviating one of the most significant challenges complicating the full commercial emergence of Zn-Air battery technology. Eschewing the established tactic of applying existing chemicals from the catalog, this project will take inspiration from the PI?s experience designing additives for similar environments in the electroplating industry to introduce novel proprietary organic chemistry addressing the dendrite bottleneck directly. The key technical challenge will be to optimize the molecular features to simultaneously provide efficient dendrite suppression and low voltage loss. A broad series of molecules will be created to combine strong interactions with zinc, modest polarization, low cost and straightforward scalability. Evaluating and iterating upon these candidates in bench-scale electrochemical analyses and performance tests in coin and pouch cell batteries will yield a dendrite-suppressing product to bring significant value to Zn-Air technology and other Zn-based battery markets. At its successful conclusion, this project will not only produce products for these markets, but it will also provide molecular design principles useful for the development of other metal-based battery additives, and promote the merits of novel additive development for the broader battery industry.
PROJECT OUTCOMES REPORT
Disclaimer
This Project Outcomes Report for the General Public is displayed verbatim as submitted by the Principal Investigator (PI) for this award. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this Report are those of the PI and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation; NSF has not approved or endorsed its content.
This Project Outcomes Report for the General Public is displayed verbatim as submitted by the Principal Investigator (PI) for this award. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this Report are those of the PI and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation; NSF has not approved or endorsed its content.
Zinc has been the metal-of-choice for non-rechargeable batteries for nearly two centuries because it is economical, safe, plentiful, and recyclable. However, its use in rechargeable batteries is being held back by several intrinsic problems related to re-plating (a.k.a. recharging) the zinc. Octet Scientific, Inc. is applying the principles of electroplating additive design to develop new organic chemicals that help zinc batteries recharge in a more efficient and controllable way. These ?additives? can improve performance in all types of zinc-based batteries to bring cheaper and safer alternatives to lithium-ion and lead-acid in applications such as grid storage, portable devices, stationary power, and electric vehicles.
In this NSF STTR Phase I project Octet Scientific developed new additives that efficiently stop the formation of zinc dendrites during recharging. Dendrites are sharp offshoots that form naturally on a zinc surface during recharging. These dendrites can damage the internal battery, cause uneven charging, and lead to loss of capacity. By adding only 1% -or for some even as little as 0.1%- of Octet?s additives these dendrites are completely suppressed without any loss of recharge efficiency. Furthermore, the project revealed how these additives can also be adapted to prevent additional zinc problems like hydrogen formation and shape-change. These elegant, drop-in battery additives will help give momentum to the impending re-emergence of zinc as America?s best energy-storage metal.
Last Modified: 03/05/2019
Modified by: Onas J Bolton
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