SBIR-STTR Award

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) project is to enable high-performance, safe, lithium-based batteries; a $40B market today and growing rapidly driven by the needs of electric vehicles and grid-based storage. This project will develop a safe (non-flammable) electrolyte that can operate at both high voltages (for increased battery capacity) and high temperature (for rapid charging). The proposed electrolyte is a drop-in replacement in today?s manufacturing infrastructure. Key experiments will allow the team to develop a fundamental understanding of the materials properties and allow it to circumvent crucial performance limiters. As an enabler for an all solid-state battery, the innovation will improve performance of electric vehicle batteries at reduced costs, accelerating the rate of penetration of US-made electric vehicles and power trains in world markets. This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project will develop, test, scale-up, and begin commercialization of a next-generation solid-state composite electrolyte for inherently safe, high-performance lithium-/lithium-ion batteries. The electrolyte should have high electrochemical stability, high ionic conductivity, high thermal stability, a high lithium transference number, low interfacial resistance, and will be inherently non-flammable. Full cells >200 mAh will be constructed and performance tested. During the Phase I effort, NextGen will demonstrate that its new electrolyte will meet the conductivity, temperature, safety, etc. goals for advanced electrolytes required by early market adopters. The project has four key tasks: (1) ceramic materials synthesis and characterization, (2) blending with a polymer to form a thin, pinhole-free composite solid-state electrolyte system to achieve simultaneously a high ionic conductivity and a low resistance interface with the cathode/anode materials, (3) electrochemical and thermal characterization of the composite electrolyte system, and (4) assembly and test of full cells to demonstrate that the electrolyte meets the system performance requirements.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) Phase II project is the introduction of non-flammable, easy-to-manufacture solid battery electrolytes that are also compatible with lithium metal. The cell architecture seeks to ensure safety while enabling a significant improvement in the energy density. The teams also seeks to lower the costs of the lithium-ion batteries by eliminating extrinsic costs associated with thermal management and explosion containment. Safe, easy-to-manufacture electrolytes may alter the rate of electrification of the global economy. The next generation of battery powered medical devices, a large proportion of which are manufactured in the United States, may also benefit from the adoption of the new solid electrolyte. In addition, the proposed composite solid electrolyte aims to enable new cell architectures with significantly higher energy densities than what has been possible in liquid electrolyte systems to date.This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project will develop a non-flammable, high-conductivity composite, solid-state battery electrolytes that are compatible with mixed metal oxide cathode chemistries and cell manufacturing processes. The morphology of the composite electrolyte is such that it offsets disadvantages present in polymer electrolytes, as well as inorganic sulfide and oxide solid electrolytes, when they are used as monolithic materials. The unique heterostructures of the proposed solid electrolytes advance the current state-of-the-art by enabling faster diffusion of lithium ions through multiple pathways, while mitigating the growth of lithium dendrites. The electrolyte's nonflammable nature makes it a potential replacement for conventional liquid electrolytes in reducing fire hazards and reducing the costs of reqired thermal protection systems in lithium-ion batteries. The compatibility with lithium metal presents a unique opportunity for improvement in the energy density over currently used silicon-graphite anodes, that translates to a lower cost per unit of stored energy ($/kWh). An additional advantage is that these batteries do not require special handling and they are compatible with both spiral wound and planar battery form factors.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.