HIGH-ENERGY METAL AIR BATTERIES
Disclosed herein are embodiments of lithium/air batteries and methods of making and using the same. Certain embodiments are pouch-cell batteries encased within an oxygen-permeable membrane packaging material that is less than 2% of the total battery weight. Some embodiments include a hybrid air electrode comprising carbon and an ion insertion material, wherein the mass ratio of ion insertion material to carbon is 0.2 to 0.8. The air electrode may include hydrophobic, porous fibers. In particular embodiments, the air electrode is soaked with an electrolyte comprising one or more solvents including dimethyl ether, and the dimethyl ether subsequently is evacuated from the soaked electrode. In other embodiments, the electrolyte comprises 10-20% crown ether by weight.
Aquatic Organism Tracking Devices, Systems and Associated Methods
Compared with MHK energy, widely-used hydropower have also been facing similar environmental concerns. To help investigate the potential of fish injury and mortality from passage through hydropower turbines, PNNL developed the JSATS. Recent JSATS development included several state-of-the-art acoustic transmitters, such as the injectable transmitter and the juvenile eel/lamprey transmitter. The latter is the world's smallest acoustic tag. Both these small transmitters have been successfully demonstrated in field studies and helped gather information on species of early life stages that had previously been unobtainable. The highly efficient transducer and circuit designs as well as the high-density micro-battery technology specifically developed for these transmitters were the innovations that made these technological advancements possible. The JSATS operates at 416.7 kHz, a relatively high acoustic frequency that works well filtering out acoustic noises in freshwater environments. With hardware and software modifications, these technologies can be readily adopted for a lower-frequency transmitter for use in marine environments. Our feasibility assessment and laboratory benchtop testing of the transmitter concept at three different frequencies around 200 kHz have shown significant improvements (detailed results listed in the attached document).
Metal Fluoride Electrode Protection Layer and Method of Making Same
The present invention discloses a method to modify the titanium oxide based anode materials by coating a thin layer of AlF3 on the particle surface and the excellent battery performance for the thus obtained surface-modified titanium oxide based materials. This method is simple and cost effective. The key aspect of the present invention is to keep the AlF3 coating at low content particularly between 0.1% and 10% and more particularly between 1% and 5%. The thin AlF3-coating layer significantly improves the power performance, capacity retention at elevated temperatures and long term cycle life of the lithium-ion batteries using these surface-modified anode materials.
Flow Cell Systems, Flow Cell Batteries, and Hydrogen Production Processes
We propose a new paradigm for low-cost hydrogen generation though a hybrid electrolyzer/flow battery device, in which the oxygen electrode is replaced with a Fe2+/Fe3+ catholyte. In order for continuous operation, a regeneration cell will provide the replenishment of the Fe2+ ions through renewable resources, such as carbohydrate or photoreduction,.
Iron-Sulfide Redox Flow Batteries
A novel iron-polysulfide based redox flow battery system (Fe-S) is developed for energy storage applications. This system employs alkali metal ferricyanide/ferrocyanide and alkali metal polysulfide as the redox electrolytes. When proper electrodes, such as pretreated graphite felts, are used, over 75% energy efficiency and at least 93% charge efficiency can be retained with good stability over 50 charge-discharge cycles. The remarkable advantages of this system over the current state-of-the-art redox flow batteries include: 1) very low capital cost of materials (about $70/kWh for redox electrolytes); 2) less corrosive redox solutions used and relatively environmentally benign; 3) excellent energy and utilization efficiencies.
HIGHLY STABLE PHENAZINE DERIVATIVES FOR AQUEOUS REDOX FLOW BATTERIES
In this report, rationally functionalized, highly water-soluble phenazine derivatives are disclosed as a new class of redox-active anolyte material for aqueous redox flow batteries. These compounds are compatible with basic electrolytes leading to relatively high rate performance. They have sufficiently low redox potential (-1V vs Ag/AgCl) in basic electrolytes, which can enable high voltage flow batteries systems. In addition, they have two electron transfers and this is very helpful to improve their energy density by double. When coupled with potassium ferrocyanide, the flow cell exhibited a relatively stable cycling for ~300 cycles at 20 mA/cm2. The great cyclability indicate that these compounds and their charged species are chemically very stable, promising for highly durable flow battery systems. Moreover, these compounds can be synthesized from very inexpensive precursors through simple one-step synthesis. This feature allows easy molecular engineering to enable high solubilities and can lead to high cost-effectiveness redox materials. Therefore, the organic phenazine derivative compounds are expected to be promising material candidates to achieve competitive aqueous redox flow batteries that have high voltage, high energy density, good power density, long durability, and low cost.
Thin, Porous Metal Sheets and Methods for Making the Same
This invention provides a new membrane design and a method of its preparation for selective transport of one or one type of molecules over the other. The membrane comprises immobilizing a liquid-fluidic phase of selective absorption functions in a porous inorganic support matrix. The device can be used for gas separation or used as selective barrier layer for battery and fuel cell applications.
SYSTEM AND METHOD OF DETECTING AND ANALYZING A THREAT IN A CONFINED ENVIRONMENT
A system and method of detecting and analyzing a threat in a confined environment is disclosed. An audio board detects and analyzes audio signals. A RF board transmits the signals for emergency response. A battery provides power to the audio board and the RF board. The audio board includes a microcontroller with at least one band-pass filter for distinguishing between a threat and a non-threat event and for measuring or counting pulses if the event is a threat.
PNNL Researchers Win Two Awards from DOE Vehicle Office
The Department of Energy’s Vehicle Technologies Office recently issued two awards to researchers at PNNL for their contributions to areas that are crucial for the expansion of electric vehicles.
LITHIUM COMPENSATION FOR FULL CELL OPERATION
Disclosed herein are embodiments of a lithium-ion battery system comprising an anode, an anode current collector, and a layer of lithium metal in contact with the current collector, but not in contact with the anode. The lithium compensation layer dissolves into the electrolyte to compensate for the loss of lithium ions during usage of the full cell. The specific placement of the lithium compensation layer, such that there is no direct physical contact between the lithium compensation layer and the anode, provides certain advantages.