Conductive Carbons by Design: Electrochemically Tailored Carbon Nanotube Conductive Additives for High-Rate Battery Electrodes | Final Report
In order to simultaneously meet the DOE Vehicle Technologies Office (VTO) ultimate targets of 500 Wh/kg, 800 W/kg, $80/kWh, 10-min recharge times, and 2000 deep discharge cycles for transportation lithium-ion batteries (LIBs), a combination of novel raw materials, cell components, and manufacturing methods will be needed. Furthermore, the practical gravimetric energy density of conventional LIBs (i.e., those with Si based anodes and Ni-rich NMC cathodes) will plateau at around 350 Wh/kg, and a nearly pure Si or Li metal anode and a high upper-cutoff cell voltage will be needed to break that barrier. There is no one solution that will achieve these goals, and the challenge requires rethinking electrochemical energy storage from a system-level perspective. These next-generation cell designs enabled by advanced nanomaterials will include multilayered coatings, thick cathodes, composite anodes, ultra-high active material loadings, and all-solid-state cathodes, all requiring a robust structural network in addition to ensure beginning-of-life (BOL) energy density and performance benefits are maintained throughout cell life. The integration of low-cost, electrochemically manufactured carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are the collective focus of this Phase I and Phase II project, and one major way that significant performance improvements, and ultimately cost reduction advancements, will be made to advanced batteries. Obstacles for CNT integration into advanced batteries are that cost is too high (4-10 times higher than carbon black), the physical properties (diameter, length, and wall thickness) have not been optimized for high-rate performance (i.e. 2C discharge and 6C charge rates), and CNT dispersion is difficult. Phase II will emphasize solutions to these problems for Ni-rich layered cathodes and high-Si/C anodes, as well as partnering with the DOE Battery Manufacturing R&D Facility (BMF) at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) to develop a lithium-ion cell-level design enabled by SkyNano CNTs that substantially improves on the 250-275 Wh/kg industry state-of-the-art. In addition, the proposed multilayer architecture approach will leverage existing ORNL expertise in thick electrode design and enable us to demonstrate this increased performance at high areal loadings of >4 mAh/cm2, approaching twice the industry standard today and enabling an overall decrease in inactive mass (separators, Cu foil, Al foil) for the packaged cell.
- Research Organization:
- SkyNano LLC
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Transportation Office. Vehicle Technologies Office; USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Transportation Office. Vehicle Technologies Office. Batteries for Advanced Transportation Technologies (BATT) Program; USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Transportation Office. Fuel Cell Technologies Office
- DOE Contract Number:
- SC0020811
- OSTI ID:
- 1807474
- Type / Phase:
- STTR (Phase I)
- Report Number(s):
- DOE-SkyNano-0811-1
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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